


i failed and lost this fight (never fade in the dark)

by doctorkilljoy



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Blood Loss, Blood and Violence, Body Horror, Buried Alive, Burned at the stake, Burns, Chemical Pneumonia, Child Abuse, Dark Klaus Hargreeves, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Decapitation, Dehydration, Drug Use, Forced Drug Use, Gen, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Illnesses, Immortal Klaus Hargreeves, Kidnapping, Klaus Hargreeves Whump, M/M, Medical Inaccuracies, Not Beta Read, Panic Attacks, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Starvation, Strangulation, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide, Telepathy, Temporary Character Death, Violence, Vomiting, Whump, Whumptober 2020, and not the fun kind, no beta we die like ben
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:14:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 32
Words: 53,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26764159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctorkilljoy/pseuds/doctorkilljoy
Summary: Klaus Hargreeves is a clusterfuck that Death won't touch. And he's about to find out how cruel this world can be.
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz
Comments: 251
Kudos: 581
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	1. Shackled

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my Whumptober Challenge creation! I'm going to try to post a new section each day with the prompt word as the title. I'm going to warn you right now. This fic is going to get very, very dark. Please mind the tags, they will be updated with each chapter and some of the stuff I have planned is violent and disturbing. All appropriate trigger warnings will be included.
> 
> This chapter includes a character dying from thirst and also starving. 
> 
> I will try to post every day. However if I don't quite make it be assured that I will post whatever days I miss together.

How much time had passed? He couldn't say, not like he was wearing a watch. Maybe that needed to be part of the Academy uniform. Watches. And fanny packs! Yeah, if he'd had a fanny pack, he could have had a snack or two. Wouldn't that be nice? Or some water. He'd kill for some water, and he wasn't the murder type.

They'd gotten separated on a mission. This was their second attempt at time travel, to get things right on this go-around after the whole Sparrow Academy mess. They finally made it to the day Five disappeared, but there was one noticeable change (which Five had taken off to put into place without even discussing it with the rest of them. Typical). 

Somehow, their dear old Dad had been convinced to give Vanya a chance instead of suppressing her powers. So, there were seven of them, and they all did missions now. Or tried to. Lately, they hadn't been going so great.

Like right now. The mission was to search this old abandoned hospital for some secret terrorist base. Which, eureka! They found it! And were promptly captured because even with superpowers they're still thirteen and it's not that hard to overwhelm a group of pre-teens. He didn't know where the others were. He'd gotten decked right in the kisser, then woken up in a shower room by himself, fucking shackled to a support bar. 

Ghosts were screaming at him, but it wasn't like Klaus could do shit when he was tied up and weak with thirst. His wrist was raw and bloody from trying to get loose. He heard somewhere once if you dislocated your thumb you could get out of a pair of handcuffs. Unfortunately, these were medical-grade restraints he was tied up with and they appear to have been made specifically to close that painful loophole. Too bad they were rough with age, then maybe he wouldn’t be bleeding.

Klaus wasn’t feeling so great. His mouth was dry, his tongue sticking to the roof. His lips were so chapped he could taste blood every time he called for help. Someone had to come in at some point, right? They wouldn't just leave him here. That would defeat the purpose of taking him hostage. Or why not just kill him? 

"Give me a gun, I'll do it myself," Klaus muttered, voice rusty from all the screaming he’d been doing.

No response. And he was getting light-headed too. Not in the fun “I just took a fuck ton of drugs” way either. It had to have been a long time, he hadn’t needed to take a piss in… He didn’t know. His mouth was so dry he was surprised he could still talk. Not to mention that he was pretty sure he’d fainted once or twice, not that he could keep track of when or if that even happened.

Maybe he could ask one of the ghosts to tell him.

Klaus was lying on the ground, the hand that was still shackled to the support bar hanging above him. He poked it, unsure if it was still attached. Nope, he felt that. Still attached. His chest hurt though. It started as a dull ache, then all at once it was a very stabby feeling and he couldn’t breathe. Something was wrong, very wrong. He was in the process of trying to see if he could maybe finally get loose when he heard a familiar voice say, “Klaus.”

He looked up, and he said, “Oh hey. What are you doing here?”

“I think the more pertinent question is what are you doing here?”

The scenery was different, he was outside now. The smell of piss and shit was gone, so was the pain. And Klaus was in his proper body. Nice! Also, he wasn’t tied up anymore, even better! He scrambled to his feet and said, “Sorry, I think I got lost.”

“I’ll say,” She had her little arms crossed over Her chest. “You should leave this time period.”

“Pardon?”

She rolled Her eyes. “If you stay in the current timeline, you’re going to suffer, and I won’t be able to help you. No one will.”

He scratched the back of his head, then said, “See the thing is, it’s not really up to me? Five’s the one who—”

“Enough,” She said, Her voice gone cold. The black and white scenery was suddenly much darker like someone had turned down the lights. A wind had picked up, and it was tossing Her hair to and fro. “Klaus Hargreeves, if you do not return to 2019 as soon as you’re released from that cell, you will endure pain and suffering at a level unknown in this or any other universe.”

“Are you cursing me?” Klaus exclaimed, jaw dropping. Why in the fuck was God cursing him?

Suddenly, things lightened up, the wind died down, and She looked sad. “Warning you. I’m warning you to get out while you still can.”

“She’s right, you know.”

Klaus turned around, then blinked. “Edward Norton?”

He chuckled and stepped closer, a cigarette between his lips. “Hardly. He does look like me though, doesn’t he?”

“You were in my favorite movie,” Klaus said.

“Kid, I just told you, I’m not Edward Norton,” he replied. “I’m the Devil.”

Klaus frowned. “Why does the Devil look like Edward Norton?”

“Oh, for crying—I told you that you made him too dumb,” he said.

“You were in charge of their intelligence, not me,” She replied. “Besides, he’s messing with you.”

The Devil was staring at Klaus, who in turn grinned.

“You cheeky little bastard,” he said and chuckled.

“Wait, “their”? Do you mean you two made me and my siblings?” Klaus asked.

“See?” God said smugly, then looked at Klaus. “Yes, we did. Unfortunately, there was a slight… Design flaw when we made you.”

“Here’s the deal, Klaus,” said the Devil. “We sort of overshot when we gave you powers over the dead. So much so that Death’s been pretty pissed at the both of us since you were born. They’ve decided they won’t come for you unless your death is from forces not of this world. And what with your idiot brother mucking about with the timeline, that’s complicated things. You need to get out of there. See if you can get him to drop you in the future. Otherwise, you're gonna wish you were dead. ”

He shook his head. “He won’t do it.”

“Not even to save you?” God asked. She was so sad; he was pretty sure She knew the answer.

“I’m not high on the priority list right now,” Klaus muttered.

“You know you won’t get to see your soldier boy again if you don’t leave. At least not until you die permanently. And who knows when that will be,” said the Devil.

There were probably more words said, which Klaus couldn’t hear. He felt like someone had stuffed his ears with cotton and he was getting woozy. Every time he blinked, he was seeing flashes of the hospital. Then there was a lurching sensation and he was back on the ground in the shower room. The dizziness and the pain were back in full force and he whined. The ghosts were hovering over him, and one hissed, “Klaus!” And raked her nails down his face.

“Ah!” He cried out, trying to get away from them.

How could his powers work _now_? He wanted to cry. He might be able to if he weren’t so dehydrated. Klaus was still too weak to move. As the ghosts closed in, he silently prayed. He wasn’t sure if he was praying to God, the Devil, or Edward Norton. As he was punched, scratched, and bitten by the ghosts, he prayed that Five would take him back.

Hours later, there was a familiar voice.

“Number Four.”

He turned his head, trying to see out of his one good eye. They’d really done a number on him. His father was kneeling next to him, a grim look on his face.

“First you allow yourself to be captured, now this,” he admonished. He then stood and said, “Take Number Four back to the Academy, have your mother see to his injuries.”

Five and Diego were suddenly there, Diego cutting the shackle and freeing his arm. They were both the picture of health which made Klaus frown. What in the fucking fuck was going on? They helped him to his feet, though Klaus couldn’t really walk. He tried but ended up stumbling.

“You reek,” Diego said.

Klaus was about to retort about the lack of bathroom facilities, but instead, he started coughing. He saw stains of red on the tile beneath him, and the ground was rushing up to meet him. Someone grabbed his arms and wrenched his shoulder hard, making Klaus cry out from the pain.

“He’s going into shock,” Five said.

This had to be the start of it. The pain that God was talking about. He used what little strength he had left and grabbed Five by the lapels of his blazer. “Take me back.”

“I’m taking you home—” He said but Klaus cut him off.

“To 2019, you have to take me back! Things will get worse if you don’t!” He hissed.

“You’re delirious,” Five replied. He then whispered in Klaus’s ear, “Shut the fuck up about the future.”

Before Klaus could argue, he blacked out.

He wasn’t surprised when he woke up in the infirmary in the Academy. He also wasn’t surprised that no one was there, not even Mom. 

“Oh fucking hell,” Klaus muttered.


	2. Choose One to Die

“Choose one, Hargreeves.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Choose one of your little brats to die, and I’ll let the others go.”

Klaus looked at his brothers and sisters, fear stark on their faces. Even Diego.

They were bound and gagged, seated in a row in front of the camera, in numerical order no less. The video feed of their father glaring back at them, the only light in the darkness. He was looking at them coldly, and Klaus knew if they ever managed to get out of this, they were so grounded. Or punished, or whatever Hargreeves had up his sleeve.

Captured again, and not so long after the hospital incident. Klaus had been in the infirmary for over a week, with Mom giving him fluids and encouraging words. Pogo would sometimes stop by and read to him. His siblings were kept away, given extra training for their failure. Klaus was too, once he was deemed medically fit by Mom.

He shuddered to think of it. The mausoleum seemed worse now that he was older. He’d come out of that one with more scrapes and bruises, but that hardly concerned their father. Only that Klaus was still piss ass scared of the dead. And who could blame him? Most of them were raving lunatics bent on taking their pound of flesh out of Klaus.

It would have been a little more bearable if he had some weed. Or some alcohol. Both were in short supply.

Staring up at the silently furious face of their father, Klaus was scared shitless. If this were a movie, and if Hargreeves were a normal dad, he might be distraught. Claim he can’t choose and to take him instead, something dramatic like that. But he wasn’t a normal father, and this wasn’t a movie.

Klaus looked at Allison on his right and saw her eyes were wide with fear. Next to her, Diego was glaring at the bad guys as though he could stab them with the power of his mind. Luther had the stiff upper lip thing going, though it wasn’t like he needed to worry, he was still Dad’s favorite. He looked to his left, to see that Five was still trying to blink out with zero success, while Ben and Vanya were unconscious.

There were a couple ghosts in the room. They were wandering about moaning. Klaus was trying to make them appear to the villains of the week, but even sober he was still having a lot of trouble with that particular power. Ben had theorized their powers must grow with their age, and he may not be able to do that yet. Which was bullshit because if the ghosts could attack him when he definitely didn’t want them to, Klaus should be able to make them visible.

“Number Four.”

Klaus blinked and looked up at the screen. Sir Reginald was looking down at him in disgust.

The head honcho said, “You’re sure?”

“He is of little consequence. Release the other children and you may do what you like with him.”

The goons were gathering up his brothers and sisters, and Klaus struggled. He wasn’t going down without a fight! He tried using his powers, calling the ghosts and making them hurt the bad guys. Or at least set him free!

Diego was struggling too, but then one of the goons hit him over the head, and he went deathly still. What shocked Klaus was that Luther, Allison, and Five were just... Leaving. No fight, no bid to get free, but Allison did look back at him, guilt was written all over her face and tears in her eyes. Then the room was empty except the boss, Klaus, and his Dad.

The boss forced Klaus to his feet and ripped the duct tape off his mouth, asking, “Any last words?”

“Dad, please! Don’t let them kill me! Don’t---”

He didn’t get to finish the sentence.

A knife slid across Klaus’s throat, swift and sharp. There was a slight burning sensation as his skin split open, and then he could feel something warm cascading down his front. His hands were still tied behind his back, or he might have tried to stop the bleeding. And that’s what it was, wasn’t it? Klaus was bleeding.

He wasn’t getting enough air, and when he tried to inhale, he had this horrible wet feeling in his throat.

_‘I’m choking on my own blood,’_ he thought.

As he looked up at the screen, it was to see his father dispassionately watching him die. Klaus was surprised the old bastard wasn’t taking notes. He was so angry, but then he was so far away. Like it didn’t matter one bit.

He realized he was likely going into shock. Klaus didn’t pay attention in class. Not because he was stupid, but because he wasn’t interested in most of their lessons. However, he did like the first aid classes and remembered his mother cheerfully explaining to them what happens when someone has a fatal injury, especially a wound.

First the pain, then the shock, and then death.

Almost on cue, he heard, ”There he is. Hello, Hargreeves.”

Klaus groaned and looked up.

“Hey Eddie, how’s it going?”

The Devil rolled his eyes. “You’re not as funny as you think you are.”

“Still funnier than Luther.” Klaus sighed and got to his feet. “Where am I anyway? I figured heaven would be a lot less black and white.”

“This place is grayscale for the most part. And you’re in purgatory,” said the Devil.

“God’s not here?”

“She’s busy.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. ”So... I didn’t get out.”

“I can see that. Sorry to say, you’ve got worse coming.”

“Worse than my Dad saying I’m expendable and letting those assholes kill me?”

“Oh come on, we both know he said that to you in the former timeline, too.”

“Yeah, fair.” He kicked at the dirt under his feet, and then asked, ”Couldn’t you take me with you? I know God doesn’t want me around but I figure you'd be down to party.”

“You’re awfully cocky aren’t you?” The Devil asked, then shook his head. ”Despite what people on Earth think, I’m very selective in who enters my domain. I need the darkest of souls, but I also need them to be people who follow orders. You don’t fall into either of those categories.”

“I can follow orders,” Klaus exclaimed. ”I was a soldier in Vietnam!”

“The only reason you took orders from Dave was because he was fucking you on the regular. And you’re not my type,” the Devil replied.

“Well, you’ve got me there.”

“I suppose your soul will be plenty dark before this is over. It’s going to be interesting.”

Klaus was about to ask him what he meant when he started coughing. He couldn’t seem to stop, and then the next moment he was in the Academy, with Mom and Pogo hovering over him.

“Master Klaus, please don’t move,” said Pogo.

He was fighting to breathe, and Mom’s hands were fluttering over his throat. After a moment, he was able to draw in a deep breath. It felt like the first in ages. He coughed again, then took another deep breath. Klaus did this several times until he was finally able to breathe regularly.

“Remarkable.”

Klaus turned his head to see Dad standing in the doorway. He strode into the room, and Mom and Pogo melted away. Just like they always did whenever the Great and Powerful Sir Reginald Hargreeves was out and about. He was touching Klaus’s throat, and he said, “And there’s no trace of the injury.”

“It appears to have healed itself,” said Pogo.

“Is that so? How?”

“His cells have been regenerating at a rapid rate,” said Mom. “Almost like it never happened. However, he is still experiencing symptoms of blood loss.”

“I see. Keep an eye on him. No transfusion, the other children aren‘t to know. Be sure to keep him monitored, I want to see if he’s able to regenerate the blood he’s lost.”

“Yes, sir.”

The entire time this was going on, Dad was pawing at Klaus’s neck, like he was looking for some kind of trick. Klaus finally got impatient and smacked his father’s hand away. Dad looked down at him for a moment, then backhanded Klaus across the face so hard that his head spun.

“I will not tolerate any insubordination, Number Four,” he said.

Klaus was holding his hand to his face, and he stared at his father in disbelief. “You let them kill me.”

“A miscalculation,” he said dismissively. “Had I been aware of your latent talent I might have reconsidered.”

“My what now?”

Pogo cleared his throat and stepped closer. “It appears, Master Klaus, that you possess some form of immortality.”

It took longer than it should have for the words to penetrate Klaus’s brain. Then it came crashing down and he couldn’t breathe. This was what God meant. He could be killed, fuck he just had been. But he’d be back. He wouldn’t get to stay in that gray place. He wouldn’t get to see Dave. But worst of all, he could see the room was starting to fill with spirits, and they looked really pissed.

“If I might have a word with you both,” said Dad.

“Certainly, sir,” Mom said with a smile and walked out of the room.

Pogo went to follow, but Klaus grabbed his wrist.

“Don’t leave me,” he begged.

“Number Four,” Dad barked. “You will control yourself and release Pogo at once.”

“Please,” Klaus said.

“I shall return, Master Klaus,” Pogo said, gently removing Klaus’s hand.

They were gone, and now the dead were surrounding him. Klaus hid under the sheets of the infirmary bed and tried to wish them away.

Such a pity it didn’t work.


	3. Held At Gunpoint

A few days later, after Klaus was released from the infirmary (again), he was cornered by Ben after their hand to hand combat training. He'd been getting weird looks from all his siblings, and he knew they were working their way up to asking him what the gag was. After all, he was supposed to be dead. Klaus almost wished that was the case. 

"We should talk," said Ben. 

"About what?" Klaus said, trying to play it casual. 

"About what happened," he replied. 

"You'll have to be more specific," Klaus said with a laugh. "My life is so busy."

Ben was frowning at him, and he said, "With the kidnappers. Klaus, they said they were going to kill you."

"And clearly they failed," he said. Klaus loosened his tie, and then undid the buttons on his shirt collar, exposing his neck. You'd never know that only days ago his throat was cut. Which he supposed was the point. It still didn't make sense though. If Death was so pissy about Klaus's abilities, why not put an end to him permanently? 

He was about to go upstairs when Ben touched his shoulder. "I'm worried about you. Did something happen? You've been weird since you got back." 

The concern in his voice was touching. And it weighed heavily on Klaus. He knew that this was a burden, an awful one, and he would feel better if someone could help him carry the load. Sure, he'd been a shit to Ghost Ben. It was for those wrongs he'd committed that Klaus and the others swore they wouldn't let this version of Ben know what had happened in the other timeline. No Ghost Ben, no Sparrow Ben. He'd be none the wiser.

Of course, that meant he couldn't really help out with the whole "stop the apocalypse" thing, but it seemed as though they didn't need him for that. Vanya had a pretty good handle on her powers, and things were going great for everyone involved. Really, everything was looking up. Except for the whole immortality thing, that sucked out loud. 

If anyone knew what it was like to be subjected to arcane forces the world couldn't understand, it was Ben. 

Klaus opened his mouth, ready to spill his guts, when a soft, "Klaus" echoed through the foyer.

His heart sank as Klaus turned around and saw Mom behind them. 

"Yeah?" 

"Your father would like to speak with you in his study," Mom replied, her smile fixed in place. 

"What'd you do?" Ben whispered.

"Nothing yet," Klaus replied. "I'll see you later, Bennie." 

Klaus shoved his hands into his pockets and went to his Dad's office. He found Pogo and Dad waiting inside. 

"I was explaining to your father you had new injuries upon our return to the infirmary," Pogo said apologetically. "Would you care to explain how you came by them?" 

"Ghosts," Klaus replied. 

Dad was writing in his journal, and he said, "We need details, Number Four."

"I got attacked by them, how much more detail do you need?" Klaus muttered. He knew he'd get in trouble for it, but he was well past caring. 

Dad put his pen down and looked up at Klaus. "Close the door." 

Klaus froze. He recognized that look. That cold, hard look that he'd seen on Dad's face when he'd chosen him to die. Part of him wanted to run, say fuck it and leave this place behind. The rest of him worried about his siblings, what might happen to them if he bailed. Their father would make them search for him, and then who knew what. Slowly, he went to the door and closed it. When he turned around, it was to see Sir Reginald had gotten to his feet, and he had a gun. 

He held up his hands and asked, "A gun? Seriously?"

"I have told you before, insubordination will not be tolerated. I have restrained myself from physical correction, as I felt it would be too damaging for you children. However, given your new abilities, I hardly think that is a concern anymore," he replied, then pointed the gun at Klaus.

"So you're just going to shoot me?!" Klaus screeched. 

Pogo was looking between Klaus and Reginald, and he said, "Master Hargreeves, I don't think--"

He cut him off. "What you think in regards to disciplining the children is immaterial." Then Sir Reginald looked at Klaus. "You will explain how you came by the injuries, and you will do so now." 

"I told you, it was the ghosts!" He shot back. "I don't know why but after I died the second time they kicked the shit out of me! They did it again the third time! I don't know why they're doing it!" 

"I see, and when was the first time that you died?" He asked.

Klaus realized his mistake and wanted to kick himself. He then said, "When I fell down the stairs in Mom's heels." He was lying, but it wasn't like Daddy Dearest needed to know that.

He seemed to accept the answer and stopped pointing the gun at Klaus. "I will explain the rules to you again, Number Four. We are going to study this power of yours to return from death. Additionally, as it seems you can make the dead corporeal, you will need to perfect this ability. Both will be incorporated into your private training. You will not reveal this to the other children, or you will suffer the consequences."

"Why can't I tell the others?" Klaus asked. 

"It would distract them," he replied.

That wasn't true, and Klaus knew it. Sir Reginald would lose control of them so fast it would make his monocle spin. Their dad actively killing one of their own for science? Not even Luther would stand for that and he was still the biggest daddy's boy of them all. 

"What if I refuse?" 

"Then you will no longer be allowed off the Academy grounds and you will be subject to further testing," said Sir Reginald.

"Please, Master Klaus," Pogo said. "While I understand it isn't ideal, be reasonable. This is a scientific effort with untold benefits for the world at large. If we were able to determine why you are unable to die, we might be able to save the lives of those without hope." 

Klaus laughed. "Wait, all you want to know is why I can't die? That's easy, Death hates me. God and the Devil do too for that matter. But me being able to see the dead and shit made Death, like, uber pissed and now I'm stuck here."

Sir Reginald was scowling, "I will not allow you to make a mockery of this process with such a fanciful tale."

"I'm not lying," Klaus exclaimed. "It's true, every word of it."

Pogo and Sir Reginald exchanged glances, then Pogo said, "You'll forgive me for saying so Master Klaus, but you aren't the most trustworthy source."

He was beginning to lose his cool. Not that he had much to begin with, but this was really pushing it over the edge. "I'm cursed! That's why I can't die! You can't figure that out with a test tube and a bunch of math problems!"

"Silence!" Sir Reginald snapped. He was looking at Klaus for a moment, then he glanced at the pistol. To Klaus's shock, he handed it to Pogo. "If you would."

Pogo for his part was staring at Sir Reginald in disbelief. "Sir, I couldn't!"

"You can, and you will. If we're going to prove your hypothesis correct, we will need to test him." 

"Please don't," Klaus said, pleading with Pogo. "It hurts so much to die." He was crying, and he knew it was just making Sir Reginald angry. But he didn't want to die again. He wasn't kidding, it was incredibly painful. What was worse were the ghosts fucking him up afterward.

Pogo was looking at Sir Reginald, then the gun. And for just a moment, it looked like he might do it. He might finally stand up to Sir Reginald and tell him where to stick his gun.

But then Sir Reginald said, "Do it, or I will order one of the other children to kill him." 

"Hey wait a minute, you just said--"

Klaus didn't finish the sentence. A shot rang out, and his chest was on fire. He fell forwards, his face meeting the carpet, and he was back in the countryside before he knew what happened. 

God was standing over him, Her expression blank. "Hello again."

"Hey," said Klaus, sighing and rubbing his chest. "So like… I have a question."

"When do you people not have questions?" She snapped. Okay, so apparently someone was in a mood.

"Why do the ghosts keep attacking me?"

"They can sense your travel to this realm. Since most of them can't make it here themselves, it makes them jealous and angry," She told him.

"Oh, that's just great." Klaus sighed, not bothering to get up off the ground. "How long is this going to go on for?"

"A few years, I expect," said God.

"What?!" 

And just like that, he was back in his own body, still drooling into the carpet of Sir Reginald's study. He groaned and rolled onto his back. Dad was sitting behind his desk, his journal open and pen at the ready. Pogo was standing next to him, gun still in hand, and gazing at Klaus sadly.

Then the ghosts appeared, and Klaus shrieked as they tore into him.


	4. Buried Alive

Klaus didn't die again for a while. Like, a good three months, it was great. Maybe Dad figured that he'd had enough. Or maybe he was still checking the data from the ghosts beating the shit out of him. Klaus didn't care, though he did make sure to stay as far away from Dad and Pogo as humanly possible. Pogo in turn kept looking at Klaus with regret. Didn't change the fact he'd still shot and killed him. 

He'd never trust Pogo again. And Pogo, having more emotional depth than Sir Reginald Hargreeves, was smart enough to stay away. How could he apologize for what he'd done and still have it mean something? Pogo wasn't going to stop Dad. And he'd made it clear he was more concerned with the wellbeing of his brothers and sisters than Klaus himself. After all, Dad didn't make idle threats. He may not want the others to find out, but he'd still make one of them kill Klaus if it meant keeping Pogo in line.

They both knew it, which was why Klaus didn't hate Pogo. He could even kind of understand why he'd done it. It still cut Klaus to the quick though, that Pogo had been willing to sacrifice him on their behalf. Maybe it was because Klaus couldn't die; Pogo must have assumed that eventually, Klaus would be fine. 

He was far from fine. 

In the meantime, life went on. He was still in training with his siblings, though he kept his mouth shut about his "power" just as Dad and Pogo instructed. They weren't stupid, though, they knew something was wrong. Especially Allison and Diego. But whenever they'd try to get him alone, suddenly Mom, Pogo, or Dad would magically appear and tell Klaus he had to be somewhere. Fake doctor appointments and extra tutoring were the excuses.

Truthfully, he was just getting poked and prodded a lot. 

One night, however, Klaus was having a nightmare. It was about the motel room with Hazel and Cha-Cha. He was tied to a chair, and Hazel and Cha-Cha were gone, replaced by Dad and Pogo. There were metal instruments laid out on the bed, and Reginald was carefully choosing from them. Ghosts surrounded him, the worst of which was Dave. 

Dave's body was on the other bed, the bullet wound in his chest, dead eyes staring up at the ceiling. The ghost of Dave was in the corner, staring down at himself like he couldn't believe his eyes. He then looked up at Klaus, and his gaze was full of fury. "You can come back any time you want! Why can't I? Why did I have to die like a dog?!" 

Klaus was pleading with him, "Please, Dave, I'd bring you back if I could! You know me! I love you so much!" 

"Nonsense," said Sir Reginald. He had a wicked-looking scalpel in hand. "Love is nothing more than a chemical reaction. You've polluted yourself far too much with that poison you inject to feel love."

He turned around and advanced on Klaus, with Pogo and Dave's ghost behind him. Klaus screamed, and Ben suddenly grabbed his chair and shook it, yelling at him, "Wake up!" 

Klaus was gasping, and suddenly his eyes were open and someone was holding him down. He thrashed his limbs as hard as he could, trying to get them off. He needed to get out of here before Dad came back! 

Then the light turned on, and Klaus was looking up at Diego. 

"Jesus, what the hell is wrong with you?" Diego hissed. "You're gonna wake up the whole house!"

He sat up, looking around his room. Yes, it was his room, not the hotel. No one was here except Diego. Klaus was shaking, and he collapsed back against the bed. Then he did the most embarrassing thing he could think of. He started crying. Klaus hid his face behind his hands and curled up on his side, wracked with sobs. 

A weight lifted from the bed, and then the door opened. Klaus assumed Diego had left the room. His tough as nails brother didn't do emotions, especially not anything involving crying. But when the bed dipped a second time and a soothing hand touched his hair, Klaus moved his hands away from his face. He gulped when he saw it was Mom.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" She asked with concern. 

Klaus could see past her, see Allison, Ben, and Diego being shooed away by Pogo. Dad on the other hand was in the doorway, watching Klaus closely. It made Klaus's heart freeze in his chest. 

"Nightmare," Klaus muttered, hoping they'd leave it at that. 

"My poor brave boy," Mom replied, and kissed his forehead. "Stay here, I'll bring you some warm milk." And she stood and walked out of the room. However, Dad stopped her.

"That won't be necessary, I'll take care of him," Dad said. 

Mom smiled at him and said, "Of course, sir. Would you like my assistance?"

"No, you may retire."

"Yes sir, good night." And Mom walked away. Probably off to her charging station. 

Now Klaus's stomach dropped into his feet. He'd already had the pants scared off him, how could this night possibly get worse?

"Come with me, Number Four," said Sir Reginald. 

Klaus got out of bed, still soaked in sweat from the nightmare, and followed Dad downstairs. It wasn't until they were outside that Klaus realized what was happening. He knew where they were going, and Klaus wanted no part of it. He turned tail and ran. He'd gotten back inside, but he wasn't fast enough. Sir Reginald had him by the collar and was dragging him back out, practically choking him as he did. 

"Dad, please! Don't!" Klaus begged. "I wasn't going to tell them anything, I swear!" 

"Regardless of your intentions, you caused a disturbance. That cannot go unpunished," he replied. 

"It was a nightmare!" Klaus said incredulously. "I can't control those!" 

"You can and you will," he snapped. 

Klaus was still fighting with all his might, which wasn't much with how tired and afraid he was. Sir Reginald seemed to have the strength of ten men, and it was an easy matter for him to grab Klaus by the ankles and drag him to the mausoleum. Klaus sunk his fingers into the grass, trying to gain any leverage. But it was no use.

The mausoleum doors opened, and Sir Reginald pulled Klaus inside. What happened next shocked Klaus. Sir Reginald dropped him, and then pushed open one of the crypts. He then picked up Klaus, tossed him in the crypt, and pushed the lid back in place. It was done so fast that it made his head spin. 

Klaus could feel something under him, something hard and brittle. The stench of decay assaulted his senses, and Klaus realized he was lying on bones. And there was something else in there with him. A woman giggled and whispered, "Hello, pretty one."

He screamed, beating his fists against the lid of the crypt. But it was no use, it was solid marble and too heavy for Klaus to move. 

"Number Four, you will remain here until you can calm yourself," said Sir Reginald. "Which I would suggest you do now, as there is only so much oxygen inside a crypt. I will return for you in the morning."

"Please, Dad! Don't leave me!" Klaus cried. 

"Be quiet. Unless you wish to suffocate," he replied.

Klaus heard Sir Reginald's footsteps, and then the doors to the mausoleum slammed closed. 

Unsurprisingly, this did nothing to calm him down. He screamed so hard he could see stars in the darkness. He could hear laughter, and something was touching his clothes. He tried to edge away from the ghost, but she was cackling and pawing at him. 

"Such a pretty little boy," she mocked. 

He couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe!

Between one moment and the next, Klaus was back in a familiar place. 

No God, no Devil, just a country road in a black and white film. 

"Guess they got sick of me," Klaus said and sat cross-legged on the path. 

He was still shaken by what had happened, and how easy it had been for Mom to just leave him with Dad. She had to know what he was doing. She'd seen some of it for herself. Hell, Pogo had taken Klaus to Mom after the ghosts had whipped his ass. Okay, yes, she was a machine and she had certain programming she couldn't overcome. Still, she was a caretaker, wasn't she? Shouldn't she step in if she thought something might be wrong?

And that nightmare about Dave. Klaus knew Dave would never talk to him like that. He wouldn't blame Klaus for his death, because it wasn't Klaus's fault. It was a war, people die. And if Klaus had the chance, he would have switched places with Dave in a heartbeat. Maybe that's what he should have done. Been like, "Hey, Death? Can you take me instead? I really love this guy and I don't want to see him hurt." 

Most of all, Klaus missed Ben. His Ben, the ghost who'd been on him for years to get clean and sober, learn more about his powers, and use them for good. Which, yeah, Klaus hadn't really been doing that. Sure he was discovering new things, but only because their father was a monster. 

Klaus sat on the road for a long time, fading between there and the crypt in the mausoleum. He died more than once because there's only so much oxygen in a marble box. Luckily, the ghosts weren't ravaging him with each of these little deaths. He briefly wondered if it was because the Devil and God were taking a holiday. 

As he sat on the road for the last time, he wished he could stay. Not to be with Dave, not to see if he could find his Ben. But to get away from the pain. He knew more was coming, and he didn't know if his heart could take it.


	5. Failed Escape

Klaus was a quivering mess by the time his father came to collect him. He didn’t remember much afterward. A few flashes, and then he was back in the infirmary again, Mom standing over him with concern on her face. She smiled as she treated his wounds, carefully tending them as she went. Mom said, “There we are! I don’t understand how one little boy can have so many accidents.”  
He laughed. “I know, a real mystery isn’t it?”

She was still smiling as she said, “I’ll be back later. It’s time to start making dinner.” And off she went.

Dinner? Jesus, how long was he in there?

Suddenly, Five appeared out of nowhere, and Klaus jumped.

“Fuck! You scared me half to death!” Klaus said, then giggled a little at the irony.

“Where have you been?” Five asked, closing the door and locking it.

“Little preoccupied with some extra training from Daddy Dearest,” said Klaus.

Five was staring at him for a moment, and then he frowned. “What have you told him?”

He blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Dad’s been asking me a lot of unusual questions today,” Five said. “He seems to think I’ve been time traveling without his permission.”

Klaus stared for a minute, then said, “Uh… You kind of did.”

“Not the point. What exactly are you doing at these sessions?”

Klaus sighed and turned his face away, so he wasn’t looking at Five. “I can’t talk about it.”

“Bullshit.”

“I literally can’t!” Klaus snapped. “He’ll kill me if I do.” Oh, how he wished he were being hyperbolic.

Five phased in front of Klaus, making him flinch. However, now he was staring down at him, frowning. “Is Dad hurting you? Is that why you look like you went through a cheese grater?”

“No, it’s not Dad.” He knew he must look horrible. His face felt like one massive bruise. He was sure his nose was broken, and there would be more than one scratch on his face. The ghosts were still super pissed at Klaus, as a matter of fact, they were circling him now like sharks in a tank at the aquarium. “Please just leave me alone,” he said to them.

“Fine,” Five said in annoyance, of course assuming Klaus was talking to him. “But I’m warning you, any word to Dad about where we’re from or what we’re doing, I’ll make you regret it.”

He couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “Oh, that’s… That’s great, thanks Five. Great talk, brother.” He was being heavily sarcastic as he said it, but Five didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he blinked out of the room.

Klaus was kicking himself. He could have told Five the truth. He should have. But Klaus was so scared. And he had a plan, a stupid, reckless, completely spur of the moment plan. It was going to have to wait until everyone was at dinner, and he could sneak upstairs unseen. He got up and opened the door a crack so he could keep an ear out for the bell.

It didn’t take long. Once he heard it, Klaus slipped out of the infirmary and up the back stairs, knowing his brothers and sisters would be taking the main staircase that went straight to the dining room. Back in his own room, Klaus flipped over his mattress and pulled out the wad of cash he’d been hiding there. Ordinarily, it would be enough to get him good and fucked up for at least a week. As it was, he hoped it would last long enough to get him out of the city.

He quickly changed clothes, and then opened the window. It was pretty high up, but that didn’t matter. Klaus had been sneaking into and sneaking out of this stupid house since he was eight. He scaled down the side, managing to shimmy down the drainpipe. Once he hit the ground, he ran as fast as he could. There was a blind spot in the back of the yard he could take advantage of.

He climbed the wall and dropped on the other side, then ran down the block. Klaus kept running until his lungs felt like they were going to burst, and only then did he feel safe enough to slow down. As he strolled down the street, he was hit by a sudden pang of nostalgia. He recognized this street. There was a flophouse not too far from there that wouldn’t bat an eye at a kid getting a room. Could be a plan B.

Klaus remembered walking towards the same establishment with Ben hot on his heels, berating him and begging Klaus not to give in to temptation. Klaus always ignored him, but he’d usually go to the movies or the river with him, just to make up for being such an asshole brother. Good times.

He was fairly certain he was home free until he saw a familiar car up the block. It was the Hermes, and Klaus’s heart stopped. He ducked into an alley and followed it over to the next block. He then ran across the street to another alley and climbed on top of a dumpster. He was able to use it to get to the fire escape, and from there he went up.

Klaus had quite a bit of experience running, even at this age. As an adult, he’d learned all the best ways to dodge the cops, angry drug dealers, vengeful exes, and any number of people Klaus had pissed off over the years. And one of the best ways is if you can’t go out, go up. It may not work in a horror movie, but it does usually surprise the shit out of whoever’s after you, and Klaus had a head start.

He dashed across the roof and saw the gap between buildings wasn’t huge, so after scooting back to give himself a running leap, he went for it. Amazingly, he didn’t hurt himself. He found the roof access door, busted it open, then ran inside the building.

He was glad to see it was an office building, which meant it would be cleared out for the day. Klaus smiled and went to find a bathroom. Best place to hide. Now he’d just wait a few hours and once his sadistic father figure either gave up or moved on, he’d be able to get to the bus station and get the hell out of there.

Once he found a bathroom he ducked into a stall and waited. And waited, and waited. At one point, he heard a cleaning crew come in, and Klaus thought he was majorly screwed. However, he could hear them talking, and apparently, they were just changing the paper towels. 

When the lights turned off, he waited an additional hour, keeping time by playing his favorite songs in his head. Occasionally a ghost would pass by, but they were leaving Klaus alone, much to his relief. Finally, when he felt it was safe, Klaus left the bathroom. 

The halls were deserted and dark, no one around to see him. He'd probably be setting off some kind of alarm trying to get out the front door, so he went back up to the roof. He sighed and then smiled when the fresh air hit him. Well, when he says fresh… Look there's a pretty big smog problem in the city so it's all relative. Whatever. 

Klaus jumped over to the other roof again, seeing no way down from the office building. As he slowly made his way back down to the alley, he was almost cheerful. That is, until he hit the ground, turned around, and ran smack into Dad. 

"How in the--" Klaus started, but he grabbed him by the ear and forced him out onto the street.

"Your skills are improving, Number Four. However, you failed in covering your tracks. It was simply a matter of waiting you out," he said. 

The car was waiting, and Klaus was on the verge of tears. Pogo was in the front passenger seat, refusing to look at Klaus. Sir Reginald shoved him into the car, and they were off. 

As they drove back to the Academy, Klaus seriously thought of opening the door and running into traffic. Apparently, Sir Reginald thought of everything, and the doors were locked. He wasn't able to get it open and he sighed in defeat. There was no way he wasn't going to pay for this one. 

When they arrived, Klaus pulled another old trick out of the book. He went completely boneless and refused to get up. Pogo did try pleading with him, but Klaus figured they were going to kill him again anyway. Might as well look the part. 

Sir Reginald, without a word, picked Klaus up, slung him over his shoulder, and took him back into the house. The lights were mostly out, and he couldn't hear any of his siblings. Probably in bed. Klaus mentally prepared himself, though really he was scared shitless. He was totally bound for the mausoleum. Or so he thought.

They went to the elevator instead, heading to the lower levels. It was when the elevator stopped that Klaus started kicking Sir Reginald. Having expected this, Sir Reginald in turn slammed Klaus against the elevator wall, and then dragged him out. Klaus knew where they were. He didn't think Dad had built it, not since Vanya was part of the team.

But there it was, the echo prison. As he dragged Klaus along, he said, "You brought this on yourself, Number Four. While it would perhaps be more fitting to leave you in the mausoleum, I think this should suffice. You will not be permitted to leave the building, or this cell until I say otherwise."

"You can't do this!" Klaus screamed, kicking, punching, and even biting Sir Reginald. 

He didn't reply. He picked Klaus up again and threw him inside, then closed the door. Klaus heard it lock, and he got up, pounding on the glass. "Bastard! Let me out of here!" 

Klaus ranted, raved, and beat his fists against the glass until they were bloody. But no one came. Klaus realized he hadn't eaten all day, and it was starting to catch up with him. He collapsed near the door, crying, completely out of energy. And that's where he fell asleep.


	6. Stop, Please

Klaus lost track of time. He didn’t know what bullshit Sir Reginald had spun for the others, but no one came looking for him. He wondered if anyone knew he’d escaped besides Dad and Pogo. Someone had to have noticed he wasn’t upstairs, after all. Klaus was not a quiet person. Even when he felt like shit, he took up all the space in a room and then some.

A girl he’d once shared a bottle of absinthe with asked if he was the middle child because Klaus would “do anything for attention.” He had joked that technically he was, then refused to further elaborate. She’d gotten annoyed with him and left with the rest of the bottle.

The only person Klaus saw with any regularity was Mom. She would smile, bring him a sandwich, and then leave again. He’d tried talking to her, asking her to let him out, but she’d said, “I’m sorry Klaus, but your father is very busy right now. You can discuss it with him when he comes to see you.”

And oh, was he ever not looking forward to dear Papa’s visit.

He was being monitored; Klaus knew that. The security camera with the red glowing light was pretty hard to miss. The only respite he got from it was the bathroom hidden behind a door in the corner. And Klaus wouldn’t be surprised if Dad had that wired too. Klaus wasn’t stupid, and Dad knew that. Oh sure, he wasn’t as smart as some of his siblings (especially Five and Ben) but he wasn’t as dumb as he pretended to be.

Condition people to expect nothing, they expect nothing. That was how Klaus liked it. Unfortunately, Sir Reginald Hargreeves could see right through it. It’s why Dad always called him a disappointment. After a few days of confinement, Klaus considered giving himself actual brain damage so Dad might let him out. Of course, if it didn’t work, he’d be fine. Because he’d be too dumb to care. Okay, it probably didn’t work that way. But it was worth considering.

Things changed when one day, Mom came in with a metal cart and parked it by the wall. She was still smiling as she closed and locked the door.

“Uh, what’s up Mom?” Klaus asked.

“Your father asked me to do something for you,” Grace replied. There was something very brittle about her smile, and it made Klaus uneasy.

“Uh… Okay? What?”

“Get on the bed, please, and lie down.”

Alarm bells were going off in Klaus’s head, but he did as he was told. It was Mom, she was programmed to help. She wouldn’t hurt him. Or at least she wasn’t programmed to hurt him. He briefly considered running, but the door was locked, where the hell was he going to go? Mom turned to the cart, and when she turned around with the restraints in her hands, Klaus jumped off the bed.

“Get away from me!” Klaus yelled, backing into a corner.

“Now Klaus, be a brave boy, and get on the bed. I don’t want to drag you,” she said.

The implication that she would was clear in her oh so reasonable, motherly tone.

“I should have turned you off when I had the chance,” he hissed.

“Tsk tsk. Klaus, this is important. Do you want me to tell your father you were a brave boy or a fraidy cat?”

“I don’t care what you tell that old goat fucker,” he replied. “I won’t do it.”

“Then you leave me with no other choice. This is for your own good.”

Mom strode across the room, and Klaus tried kicking her legs out from under her. Of course, she was made of metal, and a hard one at that, so all he did was hurt his toes. Klaus was squirrely and had a lot of limbs, and he proceeded to thrash like his life depended on it. Because it very likely did.

It wasn’t enough to deter Mom, who was able to slap one of the restraints on his wrist and use it to drag him back to the bed. Despite his kicking and screaming, she got him tied to the bed. He was glad to see her hair was messed up and he’d cracked one of her eyes when he’d kicked her in the face. She smiled at him the entire time.

Once she had him tied down, she shoved something hard and plastic in his mouth. Mom turned back to the cart, then when she approached the bed again, it was with some weird helmet in her hands. She strapped it on, and then returned to the cart. “This might hurt a little,” she told him.

The thing is, at first, it didn’t. He felt weird, like that time he’d run a vibrator against his scalp because he thought it would get rid of his headache. But underneath that sensation, there was some pain. By the time the pain hit his central nervous system full force, Klaus couldn’t get enough air to scream. Then it died down, and Mom returned to his side.

She was looking him over, and she took the bit out of his mouth. “How are you feeling?”

“Hurts,” Klaus whined.

“I know sweetie, I’m sorry,” she said, caressing his face. “But I’m not sure what voltage I need.”

She put the bit back in before Klaus could protest and returned to the cart. This time he knew the juice had to have been turned up because he could feel his teeth vibrating. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe. Then it stopped again. Mom didn’t take out the bit this time, she appeared to be fiddling with something on the cart. Then it started again.

On, off, on, off, it went on forever. He was a quivering mess by the time Mom checked on him again.

When she removed the bit, he begged, “Stop, please! I’ll be good, I promise! Please, Mommy!” And yeah, he was behaving like a wussy little kid he definitely wasn’t. He hadn't called her Mommy since he was four. But this should have been setting off her caretaker protocols. Why wasn’t it working?

She gazed down at him like he was a lab rat, and pushed the bit back into his mouth without speaking. And she must have finally hit the right voltage, because the next second, he was back in purgatory. And his least favorite celestial entities were waiting for him.

“What do you want?” He hissed.

The Devil was drinking a Mai Tai and leaning against the fence. God was on Her bicycle and had Her head cocked to the side.

“Thought you could use a reprieve,” the Devil said.

Klaus laughed bitterly. “A reprieve, right.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “What happens if I don’t go back?”

“You don’t have a choice,” God said.

“I just want to know what happens for fuck’s sake,” he shot back.

She glared at him. “Oh, I know you didn’t just take that tone with me.” The wind was suddenly swirling leaves about, but then the Devil held up his hand.

“Lay off the boy, he’s just been killed by his mother. Surely that would make anyone cranky,” he said.

She sighed and the wind died down. “I suppose. But don’t speak to me with that kind of disrespect again.”

“Or what?” Klaus asked. “You’ll kill me? I’m already fucking cursed and I can’t die!” He looked at the Devil. “Can I have that?”

“Nope.”

God got down off Her bicycle, activated the kickstand, and approached Klaus. “Kneel.”

He sighed, but, did as she asked. When he did, she gently touched his face.

“I still don’t like you,” she said. “But I wouldn’t wish this on any of you.”

“So kill me,” he said.

“I don’t have that power, only Death can take you. But maybe, I can make things a little easier.” She then lowered her voice and whispered something into his ear, something Klaus couldn’t hear.  
Then he was back in the cell. Mom was gone, but he was still tied down.

Sir Reginald stood over him and said, “I see you survived.”

“You’re actively trying to kill me now?” Klaus asked.

“I theorize that you may not be immune to all methods of death. We’ll be testing the theory on and off.”

“How long have I been down here?”

Sir Reginald looked bored. “One week. I had considered releasing you until you broke Grace’s eye.”

“She was trying to kill me!”

“You cannot die.”

“It still hurts! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!”

Sir Reginald wasn’t moved by this statement. Which didn’t surprise Klaus, he didn’t think Reggie had an ounce of pity in his entire body. “I have corrected Grace’s programming. She will continue to provide medical care for yourself and your siblings. However, if there is an opportunity to test your power, she is not to interfere.”

Klaus stared at him, unable to believe what he was hearing. “You reprogrammed Mom so she can murder me whenever she likes?”

“No,” he said. “Simply that she will not stop you from dying. This was a test of that program.”

He didn’t know what to say. What was there to say? Besides calling Sir Reginald a whole host of names that wouldn’t get him out of this cell any faster. Klaus realized if he wanted another shot at escape, he’d have to play along. No matter how much it would hurt. He simply nodded, and then fell silent.

Sir Reginald talked about future experiments, and also the rest of Klaus’s punishment. Another week in the cell, then he might be allowed back upstairs. He concluded with, “There is no rush, however. Your brothers and sisters are better able to concentrate without your attempts to distract them.”

That hurt more than the electrocution. Sir Reginald seemed to realize this, as he left the room shortly after. So that’s why no one was looking for him. They didn’t miss him.


	7. Carrying

It wasn’t a week. It was actually more like a month, or he thought it was. Hard to keep track without a calendar or a watch. And the experiments continued during that time. While Klaus didn’t stay dead and came back healthy and whole, it was taking its toll on his mind. What was worse, he didn’t see any of his sisters or brothers the entire time he was in the cell. They didn’t come looking for him, at least not as far as Klaus knew.

When he was allowed back upstairs, Klaus went to the bathroom and locked himself in. He hadn’t had a bath since he was sent downstairs, and God he needed one. As he sank into the water, he thought about what he’d been through and shivered. 

Sure, Sir Reginald had spaced out the deaths by about two weeks between, which was nice. The deaths themselves sucked out loud. There was Mom electrocuting him to death, then there was being smothered by Pogo. And who could forget Mom bashing his brains in with a fucking fireplace poker of all things.

He’d taken longer to come back from that one, and he was sure that Sir Reginald was comparing that data to the other deaths. Though he didn’t get his hands dirty, not when he had others who could murder for him. The plus side was the ghosts stopped fucking attacking him. He assumed it had to do with whatever God whispered in his ear. Klaus was already fucking sick of this, and he’s sure there’s more to come. God had said years, after all.

Klaus scrubbed the grime off. He looked and smelled like shit, and it was not attractive. He then drained the tub, filled it again, and sat in clean, warm water and let his mind drift. Mostly, he thought about Dave. Sometimes, he thought about his siblings.

He was finally starting to relax when someone pounded on the door, saying, “Hey! Are you dead in there?!”

“Fuck off!” Klaus shouted back and sank under the water. When he resurfaced, it was to see Five unlocking the door and opening it so the others could come in.

“You’re home! Why didn’t you tell us? Allison said though she was avoiding looking directly at Klaus. Probably because he was naked. 

“Oh, you know, needed to clean up first,” Klaus said as nonchalant as possible.

Unfortunately, Ben was still a pretty smart cookie, and he said, “You’re shaking.”

“Bathwater’s cold,” Klaus lied. “And I don’t like being an exhibitionist so you should skedaddle.”

“Klaus you run through the house naked regularly,” Vanya said.

Diego dipped his hand in the water and frowned at him. “Seems nice and warm to me. What’s really going on?”

He got to his feet and said, “Look, I really don’t feel like—” Except, he didn’t get to finish the sentence. 

Klaus had stood up too fast, he was still weak, and his balance wasn’t good. He slipped and went flying, landing headfirst next to the tub.

“Ow! Son of a bitch!” He said, getting to his feet. In the grayscale countryside. “Oh God damn it.”

“I don’t damn things,” God replied.

Klaus looked around, “Satan isn’t joining us?”

“No, not today. He has his own kingdom to run. If you want some free advice, don’t call him Satan to his face, he hates that name,” God said.

“Thanks for the tip,” Klaus said, rubbing his face. “So why are you here?”

“It’s about to get worse,” She told him.

Klaus paused. “What? How do you mean?”

“Your siblings know now. It’s going to get worse for you. I’m sorry to say, but you can’t trust them,” said God.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he snapped. “Okay yeah, we’re not close or anything. But I love them, and they love me. They wouldn’t hurt me on purpose.”

“Perhaps not, but are they above using your immortality to their advantage?”

He didn’t have an answer to that question. And he didn’t need one, because he woke up being carried by Luther.

“What are you doing?” Klaus asked.

“Oh shit!” And Luther promptly dropped him.

Klaus landed hard on the floor. He was wrapped in a towel, but still wet. “Fuck’s sake Luther watch it! You might have killed me!”

“But you were already dead!” Luther replied in shock.

Klaus got to his feet, wrapping the towel tighter around himself. “Yeah, just like the rave.”

Luther blanched. “What?”

“Forget it, big guy,” Klaus replied, heading to his room. He was not surprised to see the others following him. He almost slammed the door in their faces. Almost. He went to his bed and collapsed, curling up. Ben closed the door behind them, and Allison sat on the edge of Klaus’s bed. Everyone else sat on the floor next to the bed.

“Can you tell us what happened?” She implored.

“Uh… Pretty much what you just saw. I died; I came back. Easy as pie.”

“People don’t just come back from death,” Diego spat. And wow, he looked pretty angry all of a sudden. Maybe Diego wasn’t as over the lady cop as he thought.

“They do when God hates you,” Klaus replied.

“How many times has this happened?” Asked Vanya. She kind of looked like she was going to be sick.

Klaus thought about it, then said, “Like, eight? Maybe? I’m not sure, the experiments kind of run together.”

“What experiments?” Five asked.

He looked at Five, then at Ben. “Uh… Should we…” He trailed off, unsure how to ask.

“Ben knows now,” said Luther. “We had to tell him the truth after the third mission you missed.”

“More like Diego couldn’t keep his mouth shut,” Five said in an annoyed tone.

Diego shot to his feet, but Luther grabbed his shoulder and made him sit down again.

“It’s okay,” Ben assured him.

Klaus sighed and told them the whole story. About meeting God, and the Devil. About the curse, and how their father had repeatedly murdered him through Pogo and Mom. As he talked, Allison slowly inched away from him, until she was sitting on the floor with the others. Their faces were all equal levels of horrified. He ended by saying, “And he said I can’t tell you guys so pretend I didn’t. Where is the old bag of bones, anyway?”

“Appointment at the United Nations, Pogo’s with him. Mom is downstairs,” Five replied.

“Spectacular,” said Klaus. “How long was I gone?”

“Dad said you were an inpatient at Shady Acres,” Luther replied. “It’s been about two months.”

The local nuthouse. Of fucking course. “That rat bastard. What, and none of you could look for me?” Klaus asked.

“He said you had a nervous breakdown,” said Diego. “We didn’t know you were still in the house otherwise we would have.” 

“And it did make sense,” said Allison. “You haven’t been well for… A while.”

“You mean the post-traumatic stress? Yeah, I know, but I’m dealing with it. Mostly,” he replied.

The other were exchanging glances. Then Ben asked, “Does it hurt?”

“Dying? Yeah, it hurts. A lot,” Klaus replied.

“And this isn’t some con or story you’re making up for attention?” Diego said.

“Diego!” Vanya said, hitting his arm.

At that, Klaus glared. “If it were, I would love to know how I’d fake death by bashing my head in then miraculously come back. I assume you checked for a pulse?”

“We did,” Five confirmed. “You were very much dead.”

“Are you okay though? Physically, I mean,” said Allison, changing the subject.

Klaus shrugged. “Yeah, for the most part. I’m kind of tired all the time though,” he said. As he said it, he knew it was true. He was fucking exhausted and it had nothing to do with physical exertion. He was tired down to his bones and he didn’t know if sleep would fix that.

“We’ll get out of your hair, then,” Luther said, getting to his feet. The others followed suit. “No one says a word to Dad.”

“You promise?” Klaus asked.

“Yeah,” said Diego.

“Of course,” said Allison.

“Yes,” promised Five.

“Won’t say a word,” said Ben.

“He won’t hear it from me,” Vanya confirmed.

Klaus smiled at that. For the first time in a long time, he felt… Relief. “Thanks, you guys.”

“We’ll be back to check on you,” Allison said, giving him a warm smile. It made something in Klaus’s chest relax. God didn’t know what She was talking about. This was his family, they loved him.

Everyone filed out, except for Luther who remained behind. When the door was closed again, he said, “I didn’t want to ask in front of the others, but I have to know. You’re not on drugs, right?”

That happy, warm feeling in his chest suddenly went cold. Klaus glared at him and said, “No, I’m not. And I wasn’t that night at the rave, either. Despite your best efforts to change that.”

Luther blinked. “You died at the rave?”

“Yeah, remember that chick you went home with? I stopped her boyfriend from attacking you. Problem is, he slammed me into the ground so hard I died for a few minutes,” he explained. He was glaring at Luther as he said it, who was in turn blushing.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know,” he said.

“Well now you do,” said Klaus. He got up from the bed and went to his closet, saying, “Don’t let the doorknob hit you where God split you.”

The door opened and shut, and Klaus was left alone. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. 

“Please let Her be wrong,” he whispered to himself and then got dressed.


	8. Abandoned

This was the first time ever that Klaus was glad they were going on a mission. It meant that Klaus got to leave the house, albeit under supervision. Luther’s to be more specific. He hadn't been outside in months, what with Sir Reginald wanting to keep a tight leash on him. The fresh air felt good. 

They were being dropped at a warehouse that supposedly harbored some terrorists or something. Again with the terrorists. Klaus almost wished that Dr. Terminal would surface just for some variety.

They were dropped about a mile away from the warehouse and were going to approach it all stealth-like. Klaus was… Not awesome at stealth or keeping quiet in general. In this case, he needed to at least pretend that he was trying. He wouldn't put it past Sir Reginald to start using death as a punishment for Klaus. Technically he already had.

Once they finally made it to the warehouse, they split up so they could take the terrorists down in one fell swoop. Or at least that was the original plan. It went out the window when Diego saw there was a hostage and tried to save them instead of staying on mission. At least this screw up wasn't Klaus's fault.

The hostage got free, but then the Hargreeveses had to fight their way out of the warehouse. Klaus was not a good fighter, he never had been, and never would be. He lucked out in that there were a few pissed off ghosts the terrorists had killed hanging around, and Klaus manifested them. They tore through three of them like tissue paper and, yeah, it was gonna suck when they started haunting him. Because they would. 

Even that wasn't enough to make the mission go way off base. What caused it was Vanya. 

She had been doing well, creating a shield with her powers that made the bullets instantly implode. Until Diego re-directed the trajectory of a bullet meant for his head. He didn't mean for it to hit Vanya's leg, but it did. 

Klaus saw Vanya lose her focus for an instant, and he knew she was going to get hurt. "Get them!" Klaus commanded the ghosts, and they went after the guys who had been shooting at Vanya. 

It wasn't enough. They were losing ground fast. More and more of these guys were coming from everywhere like someone had sent up the Asshole Signal and every one for a hundred miles was converging on the warehouse. 

"Klaus!" Luther yelled. "I need to get Vanya to Mom! Can you distract them?" 

Klaus was almost shocked that Luther was trusting him with something so important. He nodded and said, "Yeah! Cover me for a minute." He closed his eyes and called all the ghosts in the area to the warehouse. It took more effort than he thought it would, and he felt dizzy as the ghosts appeared. 

Luther clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Good job! Stay here and keep them occupied!"

He wasn't sure how long he held out. Only that he was focused on using the ghosts to his advantage. He had to protect Vanya. Luther would be back soon, and they could all get out of there. Or so he thought. 

It took Klaus longer than it should have to notice. A few minutes, a half an hour, he didn't know. But slowly, he realized that he was the only one left of the Umbrella Academy. He didn't see Diego, Allison, Ben, or Five. Luther and Vanya were long gone. The others must have filtered out while he was keeping the terrorists busy.

There were so many of them, and he couldn't keep this up indefinitely. He commanded the ghosts to hold them back, and then Klaus ran out of the building. He wouldn't be able to keep the ghosts corporeal for much longer, and he needed to get the hell out of dodge before then. He was exhausted with the effort, and he hoped that maybe if he made a break for it, he'd escape. 

It was draining, using his powers like that for so long. The edges of his vision were going gray, and he felt like he was running through wet cement. He was running low on energy, which meant he was running out of escape time.

Klaus felt it the moment the ghosts faded. He was only a few hundred yards from the warehouse. If he could just make it to the trees, he'd be home free! But Klaus's luck was the same as always. He heard shouting, and then a lot of gunfire. Seconds later, everything around him was grayscale and he wanted to cry.

The Devil was there this time, smoking a pipe and looking at Klaus with a raised eyebrow. "That looked like it hurt."

"They left me behind to die!" Klaus yelled. 

"Yeah, they did, so what?" 

"So what?" Klaus asked incredulously.

The Devil shrugged. "I've seen you people do worse to each other." 

Klaus laughed, then sighed and shook his head. "I guess God was right." 

"'Bout what?"

"About things getting worse," he said. He rubbed his face with his hands and asked, "You know as much as Her, right?"

"Sort of," the Devil said. He took a puff of the pipe then handed it to Klaus.

Klaus inhaled, then handed it back. It was plain old tobacco, but he didn't care, he needed something. "Am I ever going to be happy again?"

"Yeah, when you die," said the Devil. 

"I die all the time! It doesn't stick!" He threw his hands in the air in frustration.

"You'll die someday, permanently," he replied. 

Klaus paused, then raised an eyebrow. "What happens to me then?"

"Not sure. I know God doesn't want you in heaven, and I'm not having you in hell. And you can't stay in purgatory indefinitely."

"So, what, you'll flip a coin?"

"That's actually not a bad idea," the Devil said. The pipe had disappeared and now he had a notebook and a pen. He scribbled something down and said, "For what it's worth, we're not enjoying this."

"Enjoying what?"

"Watching you suffer this way. And it's about time for you to go back." 

Klaus knew he was right, the Devil was fading from view. When he woke up, he was on his back, his suit was a wreck, and it was night. He was in the middle of a field and the warehouse was empty. He got to his feet, groaning. 

He still had his communicator on him, and amazingly, it wasn't shot up. He turned it on and said, "Number Four to Academy, can anyone hear me?" 

Static. 

"Number Four to Academy. Is someone coming to pick me up? Anybody?" 

Static. 

Klaus sighed and shoved it back onto his belt. Looked like he was walking. He was so exhausted, and it was going to be a long walk. He held back tears, this wasn't the time for them. After about an hour, Klaus found a road. Two hours later, a delivery truck came up behind him, and damn near ran him over. 

It was driven by two brothers, piano movers by trade. They were generous enough to offer Klaus a ride back into the city. The younger of the two even gave Klaus half his hero sandwich because, "You look starved to death, kid." 

That did make Klaus tear up, but he wiped at his face and thanked him. It was a pretty good sandwich, too. 

They dropped him off in front of the Academy, and Klaus trudged in, his heart heavy. When he opened the doors and walked into the foyer, Luther was coming down the stairs. When Luther saw him, he said, "Klaus! Uh... Hi." 

Klaus managed a smile, but there was nothing behind it. "Just like a bad penny." 

Luther hopped the last few steps and asked, "Are you all right? I'm sorry, we were coming back but then Five was hit too and--"

"Sure you were," Klaus muttered, his voice hollow in his own ears. 

Before they could say anything else, Sir Reginald, the absolute last person Klaus wanted to see, appeared in the doorway to the living room. "Number Four, come with me." 

"Yes, sir," he said and followed him out of the room. 

Once they were in Sir Reginald's study, Klaus expected a chewing out of epic proportions. To his surprise, Sir Reginald made him sit down and then asked, "How long were you able to keep the ghosts solid?"

He blinked. "You're not mad at me?" 

"On the contrary, you managed to not only call the ghosts but make them do your bidding."

"You were watching?" Klaus asked. 

"Of course," he replied. He had his journal open and was writing in it as they talked.

"And you didn't think I might need a ride after getting shot up?"

"You found your way home without one," Sir Reginald said, the indifference clear in his tone.

Klaus looked down at the tips of his boots, then asked quietly, "Was anyone going to come for me?"

"If you hadn't returned by tomorrow morning I would have sent Number One or Number Two to fetch you." 

That stung more than Klaus thought possible. He asked, "May I be excused, please?" His voice cracked, and he had to swallow past a lump in his throat. 

He expected Sir Reginald to snap at him for showing weakness. But Klaus was surprised again when he said, "Yes. I expect to see you in the infirmary tomorrow after breakfast. I will need the latest data on your most recent death."

"Yeah, sure thing," he said, and got up and walked out.

Luther was waiting for him, and the first words out of his mouth were, "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah," said Klaus, and walked past him. 

"Really, I--"

"You made the call, Number One," Klaus said, injecting as much venom into the name as he possibly could. "You decided I'm expendable. You abandoned me."

"You're not being reasonable," Luther said. "I only--"

"Save it," Klaus snapped and walked away. 

He went to the infirmary first and found it was empty. So he went upstairs. Vanya was in her room with Diego and Allison. She was propped up in bed, bandage around her leg, and smiling as Allison was telling them a story. So apparently she'd forgiven him. Well, it was an accident after all. 

Passing by Five's room, it was to see Five and Ben were discussing some complicated equations. Five had a bandage on his arm but other than that seemed okay. They were deep in their nerd talk and didn't see Klaus pass them. When he got to his room, Klaus slammed the door and stripped out of his mission gear. He found his oldest set of pajamas, the soft ones, and changed into those instead. 

He would have killed for some weed, but he didn't have the energy to go out and score. He was so exhausted he thought he might die again. "Maybe I should call Dad in case I do," he said to himself. 

Klaus crawled into bed, curling in on himself. Ghosts were moving about the room, but they seemed to sense something was amiss, and they left him alone. Happy for that tiny mercy at least, Klaus fell asleep.


	9. Take Me Instead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: for suicide and suicidal ideation

So things were pretty rocky for a while. Like, a _long_ while. For like, a year and a half. When the others realized that not only had Klaus been left behind but it was a tactical decision on Luther's part, he wasn't very popular with the rest of the team. The others apologized, and so did Luther. A lot, actually, to the point of being annoying. It didn't make Klaus feel better, but he accepted the apology just so he could have some peace and quiet. 

Klaus didn't bother to point out that none of them noticed he was gone. What was that saying again? People in glass houses shouldn't use the bathroom? Whatever. It would just drag up more drama. 

Life at the Academy continued. Five said they were settling in for the long haul, as he felt one of the events that jump started the apocalypse was Ben's death. Which Ben did not know about and if the rest of them had any say in it, he never would. The date kept creeping closer, constantly hanging over their heads. 

He would have liked to have spent more time with his most annoying brother while he was still alive. However, the rest of the family had the same idea and took up all of Ben's free time. He didn't feel welcome to join them. Vanya had even commented that Klaus didn't talk with them much anymore. But then Diego made a crack about silence being golden and Klaus knew he was joking but it hurt regardless. 

Klaus didn't mean to isolate himself. Really, he didn't. But after what Luther had done, and that no one noticed (again) that he was gone, he thought maybe God was right and he couldn't trust them. For their part, no one was reaching out to him, and they seemed relieved that Klaus was a little more reserved than he had been.

In the meantime, the experiments continued. Sir Reginald was spacing them out, but it was because he was getting more equipment to monitor Klaus when he died. Now there was an entire laboratory set up just for him. Klaus would go in, be murdered, he'd come back, Sir Reginald would collect data. It was almost routine, or at least as routine as something like serial murder can be. 

God and the Devil had their coin toss. Surprisingly, She lost. She wasn't happy about it either and Klaus was pretty sure She was coming up with a way to make sure he either didn't die or didn't go to heaven. The Devil delighted in reminding Her if She went back on Her word, he would have no problem going back on his. Klaus had no idea what that entailed, and he kind of didn't want to know.

On the bright side, God seemed to be warming up to him. He made a joke last time he saw Her about bumblebees that actually made Her laugh. Klaus was a lot, he knew that. He also knew he was oozing charisma and people did eventually end up liking him or at least tolerating him. He'd already won the Devil over, they would share a drink or a smoke when Klaus showed up. 

It was both flattering and painful that Klaus was closer to celestial beings than his own family. 

What was really getting to him was he couldn't see Dave. He'd tried to conjure him, Klaus had never been this sober in his entire life, he should have been able to pluck him out of the ether. But wherever Dave was, he wasn't Earth bound, and Klaus couldn't find him. He sure as hell found a lot of other ghosts though. 

He was getting more solo missions that were basically, "Conjure this dead person, grill them for information, report back". And they were not awesome. Some ghosts didn't want to cooperate, and then Klaus would have to force the answers out of them. While he didn't think it hurt the ghosts (how could it if they were dead?) it was taking its toll on Klaus. It made him feel dirty, and not in a fun way. 

Then the dreaded day came. The Starpoint Mission. The day that Ben Hargreeves died and their family was destroyed. Five and Luther had been discussing tactics and had some kind of plan, though what it was Klaus wasn't sure. He hadn't exactly been going to the family meetings, preferring to stay in his room and enjoy what little peace and quiet he could get. So rare these days. 

Things went precisely how they had been last time. Too many bad guys, even more civilians in danger, and Ben alone trying to hold them back with the Horror. He was on the edge of losing control, and whatever stupid plan that Luther and Five had clearly wasn't working. Ben's eyes were wide with fear, the Horror so close to tearing him apart.

There was only one thing Klaus could think to do. He was going to hate himself for it, and Ben would never forgive him, but it was the only way. And maybe, it would solve Klaus's problems, too. God said it would have to be a force not of this world. And the Horror was definitely not.

So he ran right up to Ben and said, "Hey ugly! Over here!" 

"Klaus! What are you doing?!" Five shouted

"Come on you stupid calamari! Come get me!" He yelled, waving his arms around. "You want blood, huh? You wanna kill a Hargreeves? Right here you dumb fucking fish! C'mon, kill me! Kill me you piece of shit cocksucker!" 

The tentacles shot out, seized Klaus, and he was back in the countryside before he could blink.

"Dead before I hit the ground, nice," Klaus said.

God was glaring at him, Her arms crossed over Her chest. "I bet you think you're clever, don't you?" 

"I am at the very least smarter than the average bear. Though maybe not one of those Russian circus bears," Klaus replied.

"That wasn't it."

His jaw dropped. "Are you fucking kidding?! The Horror isn't from Earth! It's from some weird Kaiju dimension!"

"The conduit for the Horror _is_ from Earth, so it doesn't count," She told him. 

"Aw man, Ben's gonna be so mad at me," Klaus said, then kicked some dirt. 

"How mad can he be? You saved him," God said.

Klaus shook his head. "Bullshit. The Horror's gonna have a taste for blood now. He's fucked."

"Or perhaps seeing his brother torn apart in front of him is enough for him to gain the upper hand over the Horror. Pay attention for once," God countered.

He raised an eyebrow, "You really think so?" 

She rolled Her eyes. "I'm God, if I say it, it's true." 

"Well, at least Ben's life is gonna get easier," Klaus muttered. "Is mine?"

God shook her head.

"Was the Devil right? Am I really never gonna be happy again until I die for real?" 

"You'll experience fleeting moments," God said. "But true happiness? No, it's not in the cards for you." 

Klaus rubbed his face a bit. "Do I at least get to see Dave again?" 

"Yes."

"Before I die?" 

But the scenery was fading. Klaus wanted to scream that it wasn't fair. Then he was waking up in the lab, and he groaned. 

"Don't move, Number Four," said Sir Reginald.

And yeah, that wasn't happening. He was in so much pain he couldn't speak. He felt like fire ants were biting little circles around all his joints. He could hardly breathe, let alone move. Then Mom was standing over him, her face looking grave as she said, "We need to remove the stitches."

"Very well, proceed," said Sir Reginald.

Mom then went to work, and Klaus could feel every little clip of the scissors she was using. The pain continued until finally the stupid things were removed. He didn't feel great mind you but at least the pain had stopped. 

"What happened?" Klaus asked.

"You were torn apart by Number Six," Reginald said. "We were forced to reassemble you." 

"You sewed me back together?" 

"Yes, though when you revived we realized we had made a slight miscalculation. Your skin was growing around the sutures," he said. 

Klaus managed to sit up. He could see vicious scars all over his body, which was a first. He touched one around his wrist and hissed at the pain. "Is Ben okay?" 

"He's perfectly well," Mom said. "A little shaken, but strong and healthy."

Ben wasn't dead! This was the best day ever! Klaus tried to get up, but Mom stopped him. "You've lost a lot of blood, and you're not regenerating at your normal rate. You need bed rest."

"Can I at least do it in my room?" Klaus begged.

Mom looked at Sir Reginald, who considered it carefully. He then said, "Very well. Take him upstairs." 

Klaus wasn't really able to walk, at least not without pain. Mom helped him, and once he was settled in bed, she smoothed his hair away from his face and said, "Now I want you to stay in bed for the rest of the week. If you need anything, send one of the other children to fetch me or Pogo, okay?" 

"Yeah, thanks Mom," Klaus said. 

"My brave boy," she replied. "You did well today." And she left the room.

Klaus closed his eyes, exhaustion clawing at him. Then there was a soft knock on his door, and it creaked open. When he opened his eyes, it was to see Ben standing in the doorway. 

"You're okay," Ben said. 

Klaus shrugged. "I'm a mess."

Ben slipped into the room and closed the door behind him. "Dad says we're not supposed to bother you." 

"Dad says a lot of things," said Klaus. "What's up?"

Ben sat on the bed. "You saved me."

He shrugged. "Think nothing of it."

"Five thinks you're trying to die for real," he added.

"He's right. Too bad it didn't work." 

It came out of Klaus's mouth before he could stop it, and the look on Ben's face was pure anguish. "Please don't." His lower lip was wobbling and he was on the verge of tears.

"Aw Ben, I'm sorry," said Klaus. "I didn't mean it, I'm just... I'm really tired. But then again, I'm always tired."

"It's the deaths," Ben said. "Every time you die, you're a little more... Quiet, and dim. Like when your flashlight batteries are getting low."

Klaus stared at Ben, surprised that anyone had even noticed. But Ben was the smartest of them, emotionally speaking. He didn't know what to say. Ben scooted closer to Klaus. He wrapped his arms around him and squeezed. 

A hug. Jesus, he hadn't had a hug in ages. Ben was blubbering an apology now, talking about keeping the Horror in check, but Klaus didn't care. It was so good to be held.


	10. Blood Loss

Ben was a good bro. He didn’t tell anyone about Klaus’s slip of the tongue. It wasn’t a slip of course, and he was sure deep down, Ben knew that. Klaus was feeling low, and worse, lonely. After some cajoling from Ben (when Klaus was feeling better), he started joining the others in family activities. 

The daily training was required, of course, no way that Sir Reginald would let him get out of that. But when was the last time they all snuck out for donuts? For Klaus, it had been a while. 

He finally relented about a month later after getting double puppy eyes from Ben and Vanya. Klaus had been afraid to go. He knew that Sir Reginald kept a closer eye on him than the rest of his siblings. 

Klaus was the key to immortality. Wouldn’t want something so valuable to escape. If Klaus didn‘t have a tracking device implanted somewhere in his body, then he would eat his hat. He voiced this concern with Ben and Vanya, but they wouldn't be deterred. 

"You have to come, Klaus! You used to love donuts at Griddy's!" Vanya insisted. 

"We haven't seen you outside of classes or training in ages," Ben added. 

"Please? We miss you," said Vanya.

Klaus sighed. "If Dad finds out, I'm dead."

"He won't, we promise," Ben said. 

"And if he does, we'll say it's my fault," Vanya offered. 

Which... Was a hell of an offer. She was still terrified of Sir Reginald. He was treating her differently in this timeline, more like a person than a burden. She still didn't trust him, none of them did. 

"Fine, lead the way," said Klaus.

Slipping out of the house had been easy enough, and once they were at Griddy's, Klaus felt a little better. Pretending to be the kids they definitely weren't, making themselves sick on donuts and coffee. Listening to the others talk and joke about events in their lives. And of course, catching Ben up on things he wouldn't know about. 

It was easy, to come out of his shell. To be himself again. Not taking anything seriously, say anything for a laugh. It cheered Klaus up, and he could see that the others were relieved, too. Were they that worried about him? Had he spent so much time away from them he couldn't tell anymore? 

Later, when they were back at the Academy, they were in Allison's room, hanging out. Everyone was sleepy and stuffed full of sweets. Klaus was surprised when Five said, "Klaus, we'd like to talk with you about something."

"Ugh, don't," said Klaus. "It's been nice, please don't ruin the evening by being serious." 

"It's quick, we promise," Allison said. 

Klaus looked at Ben and Vanya, both of whom were avoiding his eyes. 

"Miss me, huh?" He said scathingly to them. "Fine, what do you want to talk about?" 

"We think you should train with us," Luther said. "So that when the apocalypse comes again, we're better able to fight as a team."

"I already train with you though," Klaus pointed out.

"Extra training," Five clarified. "We've been sneaking down to the control room after lights out to handle apocalypse scenarios. It's coming along, but it would go better if you would join us."

"I don't--" He started but Ben cut him off.

"You have to! You spend all your time in your room alone. And we're supposed to be a team! We can't be the Umbrella Academy without you!" 

"Besides, you should keep busy," Diego said. 

"Yeah, it would keep you out of trouble," said Luther.

Klaus glared at them. "I'm not on drugs."

"We know you're not," Luther said, quick to clarify.

"And we know Dad has been testing your... Other power," Allison said, trying to be delicate. 

"What, you want to test it too?" Klaus asked. When they fell quiet again, he knew he was right. He scoffed and got to his feet. "Daddy Dearest is murdering me enough already, I don't need you assholes to join the act."

"This is serious!" Five was standing now, too. "We're talking about the end of the world! And in the apocalypse I saw, you were dead too. Doesn't that worry you?"

"No. Sounds pretty great, actually."

"Klaus," Vanya said, her voice a soft whimper. 

Everyone was staring at him. Allison looked worried, Vanya and Ben looked hurt, while Diego and Luther were having some kind of silent conversation with broody glares. 

"Please," said Five. He put his hand on Klaus's shoulder. Unusual, since Five wasn't exactly a tactile person. "We need you. If you won't do it for yourself, do it for your family. And for the world." 

"For my daughter," Allison said, standing too. "Your niece, Claire."

"And Sissy and Harlan," Vanya said, getting to her feet. 

"And Pogo and Mom." And now Luther was standing. 

"And Agnes, since she always gives us free donuts," Ben joked as he stood up.

Diego followed suit. "And Dave, and the guys you fought with in Vietnam." 

He wanted to tell them to go fuck themselves. He knew what this would mean. More pain, more than any one person was meant to handle. He didn't owe them anything. Sure they were a family, but when was the last time they behaved like one? 

But Klaus wasn't such a selfish prick that he could ignore what they were saying. This was bigger than him, bigger than all of them. It was the fate of the world for fuck's sake. It was just so hard to care when he was so... Drained. 

"Only if you promise me," said Klaus. "That my deaths mean something to you."

"Yeah, of course," Luther said right away.

Klaus rolled his eyes. "I'm serious. I don't want you to be like Dad. If you're going to kill me, it better be because it's an accident, or for a _really_ good reason. The minute I feel you're treating me like a science experiment and not a brother, I'm out. Apocalypse be damned."

"He's right," said Ben. "Klaus may not stay dead, but this power of his is taking its toll. We don't want him to burn out." 

"We promise," said Allison, and they all nodded in agreement. 

Five clapped him on the shoulder. "Good man. We start tomorrow after lights out." 

They all went back to their separate rooms, and Klaus went to bed with a heavy heart. Why the hell did he feel like he'd just made a huge mistake? 

The next evening, they did indeed slip into the control room. It was something that Sir Reginald had rigged up, a simulator for different scenarios they used for training. Klaus secretly thought that Sir Reginald had gotten the idea from reading the X-Men comics since it was so similar in design and intent.

"We're doing scenario 216 tonight," said Five. At Klaus's blank look, he said, "One on one in a jungle atmosphere. You and Diego."

"Oh, great," said Klaus.

Once they were inside, things got hectic fast. 

The goal was, Diego and Klaus were supposed to square off using the terrain to their advantage. Whoever was pinned down the longest would lose. Klaus did the best he could and even managed to summon a few ghosts to defend himself.

But Diego lived for fighting. He ate, slept, and breathed hand to hand combat. Not to mention his knives, which no matter how many Klaus managed to avoid, it seemed like Diego was pulling another one out from somewhere.

Then, the inevitable happened.

Klaus was conjuring a spirit and trying to make it corporeal when a knife came flying at him. Klaus jumped and turned, and it stabbed him in the thigh. Klaus looked down, and realized quickly there were was too much blood. The turn had lodged the blade in his thigh, and if Klaus's anatomy lessons were correct, Diego just severed his femoral artery.

"End scenario! End scenario!" Klaus heard Diego yelling. 

The trees faded, and it was just Diego and Klaus in a very bright room, blood cascading down his leg and pooling on the floor. He felt woozy, and a little sick. And were his legs suddenly weaker? Klaus fell, and Diego caught him, lowering him to the ground.

"I'm s-s-s-s, I'm, s-s... Klaus!" Diego said, upset.

Klaus gave him a weak smile and said, "Guess you got me pinned, huh?" He patted the side of Diego's face, frowning when he noticed the blood. Klaus must have gotten some on his hands. 

Diego reached down and took the knife out, just as the door opened and Allison shouted, "No!"

"You don't take a knife out of the wound! He'll die!" Five shouted.

"We have to take him to Mom," said Vanya.

"And tell her what? Diego stabbed Klaus when we were using the control room outside of designated training hours? Dad will have a fit," Luther said. 

They started to bicker, but Klaus ignored them. He knew how this scenario would play out. He'd die, he'd come back, no one would get him help because it wasn't like he was in danger or anything. Diego would apologize a lot. And then it would happen again. And again, and again. 

And Klaus had no one to blame but himself. He let them talk him into this. Because the truth was, he still wanted to be part of the family. Even though they ignored him, mocked him, and treated him like dirt at times. He still loved them. 

As his vision faded out, and Klaus heard familiar birds, he hoped that the Devil was around this time. He could use a Mai Tai.


	11. Crying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: for panic attack and vomiting

Breakfast. Nice, ordinary, run of the mill, breakfast. 

Klaus was staring down at his plate. A stack of pancakes with a smile on them, arranged in fruit. Klaus hadn't touched it, instead, he stared down at his breakfast and wondering how inanimate food could look happier than he felt. He managed to drag his eyes up to look at his siblings. Not an easy task with how he was feeling. 

He'd been training with them in secret for two months. He'd had two more deaths at their hands since Diego's slip with the knife, but at least they were accidents. So far, anyway. And yesterday they'd had a mission where the full force of the Academy was needed. Klaus didn't die this time, but he was hurt. He took a pipe to the stomach, several times actually from a pretty determined minion. He was still sore from it. 

Vanya had been hurt as well, a gash to the forehead and a split lip, but other than that she was fine. With the way everyone was fussing over her, you'd think she'd been in mortal peril. Everyone was being extra nice to her, and she was thriving under the attention. The congratulations from Five, admiration from Ben, approval from Luther, affection from Allison, and a weird sort of camaraderie with Diego. 

Even Sir Reginald had given her a grudging "good work" when Vanya had stopped the bomb from going off by forcing it to implode. He might as well have said he loved her. Pogo had talked about how proud he was that she was doing so well in developing her powers. Almost like he knew what they'd come back in time to do. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. Klaus couldn't tell. 

But they were having pancakes that morning. Because Vanya had been hurt, but still succeeded. Pancakes were Vanya's favorite. 

He looked back down at them. He could hardly lift his arms. In a faraway place in his head, he knew he should eat. Get his strength back. It would be a long day of classes and training both official and off the books. He should eat something. He should definitely eat breakfast. It looked so good, it smelled great, it was smiling at him. What wasn't to love? 

Klaus heard heels on the linoleum floor of the kitchen, and he glanced up. Mom was walking towards him, a warm smile on her face. But then she walked right past him to Vanya's side. She pushed Vanya's hair behind her ears, asked how she was feeling, if the pancakes were to her liking, and checked the stitches on Vanya's forehead. It was so… Mom-like. You'd never know she was a robot.

There was a sinking feeling, it started in his chest then went into his stomach. He was looking at the pancakes again. He wasn't hungry before, he felt sick now. When was the last time she'd made waffles, just because he liked them? When was the last time Mom had been a mother to him, and not his executioner? Oh sure, there was the occasional "my brave boy" but it felt hollow when she'd held him underwater two weeks ago so Sir Reginald could test the effects of drowning. 

And that had really sucked out loud.

Klaus was also expected to constantly develop his power over the ghosts. Make them do his will, or more precisely, Sir Reginald's will. Or Five's, depending on what time it was. Five was definitely the leader now in the campaign to stop the apocalypse. And like Sir Reginald, he was just as relentless in pursuing his goals. He was pushing everyone, and no one complained. United in defending the common good, or something like that. 

"You gonna eat that?" Luther asked. 

He looked up at his brother, who'd already finished his own food and was eyeing Klaus's breakfast. Growing boys and all. Klaus shook his head, and Luther took the plate from him. As he ate, Klaus remembered the warehouse and winced. He turned his head again to see that Mom was still talking with Vanya, who was smiling, telling her something about the mission. 

So loving, just like a real mother and daughter.

There was a pain deep in his chest. It echoed through his arms to his wrists. Then down his back to his legs and feet. It was an odd pain, one that defied description, but it almost felt like he had saltwater in his veins. Or maybe it was tears. His eyes were suddenly so full of them. 

He got up from his seat and went back upstairs. He thought he heard someone say something to him, but he couldn't hear it. He was in a daze, his vision narrowing to what was right in front of him. Klaus thought he knew what was happening, which is why he left the table. He couldn't let his sisters and brothers see this. They'd think he was only looking for attention anyhow. 

Klaus went to his bedroom and grabbed a pillow off the bed. He then slipped into the bathroom at the end of the hall and locked the door. It wouldn't keep Five out. It wouldn't keep any of them out if they were really determined. He just needed a few minutes. Klaus sat on the floor, blocking the door with his body. He then held the pillow over his face and screamed as loud and as long as his lungs would allow. 

He poured all of his frustration and pain into it. He screamed and screamed again until his vision was going black. He was sobbing, and all the crying he'd held in came at once. The pillow was soaked with tears in a matter of moments. Klaus couldn't get enough air in his lungs, and he couldn't stop crying. He could hear words coming from his own lips, but he couldn't make them out. He smothered them with the pillow.

How long he was on the bathroom floor, he wasn't sure. He cried and cried until he didn't think he had anything left in him. Then he felt sick again. He knew this nausea, he had to move. He threw the pillow to the side and rushed to the toilet, getting the seat up just barely in time before he started vomiting. There wasn't much in his stomach, and the taste of bile made him puke again. 

Trembling, he flushed the toilet. He stripped out of his clothes and got in the shower, as that seemed the sensible thing to do. He was still crying, though his mind felt completely disconnected from his body. Going through the motions, operating on autopilot. Though was it autopilot if you were still somewhat aware of things? It didn't matter. 

When he finished, he dried off and he went to the mirror. 

His eyes were red, but his face wasn't blotchy. They'd probably just think that Klaus was high. He still got pestered about his sobriety every fucking day anyway, it wouldn't be anything new. He ran a comb through his hair, dressed, brushed his teeth, and went back downstairs. He left his pillow in the laundry room, he could wash it later. Or grab another one from the linen closet. 

Klaus was late for the first class of the day. Pogo was teaching it, so at least Dad wouldn't be angry at him. He was giving Klaus a look though. Was he disturbed? Did he suspect what had happened upstairs? It didn't matter. Klaus still wasn't actively in his own mind. He sat at his desk, opened his book, and pretended to listen as Pogo gave a lecture about some incident leading up to World War I. 

The rest of the day passed the same way. He didn't eat lunch, he didn't do anything, really. Something inside Klaus was wounded when he saw Mom and the way she was treating Vanya. When he compared it to how his siblings and their father treated him, the saltwater feeling would bloom in his heart and spread. 

He wasn't stupid enough to think the others didn't notice, but he hoped they wouldn't say anything. Klaus got through dinner, just barely, though he could see that Sir Reginald was eyeing him again. And it had been a fortnight since the last "experiment". His heart sank as he realized he'd probably be dead again tonight. 

And he was right. After dinner, instead of going to get ready for bed with the others, he was held back and told to go to the lab. This time, they made him drink bleach, and the burning feeling was everywhere. When he woke up in the countryside, it was to see God and the Devil standing there. 

Klaus didn't have anything to say. He turned his back to them and sat on the road to wait. They could keep their eternal wisdom or cosmic knowledge or whatever. He was well past his limit for the day. He was surprised when they both sat next to him. The Devil held a hand out, and Klaus took it. God gave him a one-armed hug, and that was enough.

The dam broke, and Klaus was crying again. He still cried when he woke up in the lab, Sir Reginald, Grace, and Pogo watching him. There was no holding back now, he wailed. He screamed. He sobbed. Klaus let it all out until he was empty and shaking. 

When he was aware of himself again, he was still in the lab. Mom was filling a syringe, and Klaus begged, "Please, don't kill me again! Please? I'll do whatever you want, I promise."

"This isn't to hurt you, Master Klaus," said Pogo. "It's to help you sleep." 

"What is it?" He asked, hesitantly. 

"A sedative," Pogo replied.

Klaus didn't trust them. He didn't trust any of them. And apparently, they knew it, because he was tied to the gurney. Someone had the bright idea to restrain him before he came back to life. Mom tied a tourniquet around his arm, carefully tapping the area to find a vein. Once she did, she jabbed him with the syringe. 

And, oh, here's a feeling he hadn't experienced in a while. Chemical bliss. Someone was untying him. He was being lifted. 

"Where's his pillow?" He heard a voice ask. Was it Luther? It sounded like Luther. 

"Here, I'll get him one." That was definitely Mom. 

Then he was being tucked in, and whatever they'd given him had finally taken hold. He didn't really sleep, he was caught between the waking world and dreaming. But at least he was nice and calm now. Everyone else would have a pleasant night.


	12. Broken Trust

So it turns out after you have a nervous breakdown, no one really wants to be around you. It was Luther who'd carried him up to bed, and he'd alerted the others to what happened. Sir Reginald said that Klaus was ill. Oh yeah, he was sick all right. Sick in the head. 

Sir Reginald, Mom, Pogo, and everyone else kind of backed away slowly like they thought Klaus was going to suddenly ax murder them all in their sleep. To be fair? He'd thought about it. Like, at least twice. But then he'd have to find an ax, and probably bury some bodies and he didn't want to put that much effort into it. 

Klaus felt like he was simply existing, not living. He'd even thought about escaping again. The thought of being locked up downstairs scared the shit out of him enough that he didn't try. Mostly he just stayed in his room. Sometimes Ben tried to talk to him. Tried being the keyword, Klaus didn't say much these days. 

Of course, this didn't excuse him from training. Nothing short of a severed limb would make that happen and even then Sir Reginald would probably tell him to walk it off. Five was in about the same mindset, and while he didn't force Klaus into the control room with the others, he insisted he at least be there to observe. Klaus sometimes would sit next to Five, staring at his own hands, hating his powers.

On top of that, he couldn't get the thought of that shot out of his head. He didn't know what Pogo and Grace had given him. But he wanted it again. He had the itch under his skin, the one that felt like a bunch of little ants were building a highway along his muscles. He wanted that numbness. No more pain, no more dark thoughts. Just... Nothing. 

Wonder upon wonders though, it turned out, Klaus had something resembling self-control. Wasn't that amazing? Okay, it amazed Klaus. It might have shocked his siblings if he told them about it. He didn't, hell, he couldn't. They'd never believe him anyway. 

Then about three weeks after the Epic Meltdown™, Five approached Klaus after dinner and said, "We need you to train tonight."

"Pardon?" Klaus said but said it "pahr-dohn" just to be annoying. 

"I know you're upset," Five said, "But we need you back in the game."

Klaus rolled his eyes. If he were honest with himself, he was surprised it took Five this long to ask, the little asshole. "Okay," he said. 

"Great. See you downstairs," Five said, squeezing his arm before heading to his room. 

He sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and trudged up the steps. He went through the motions of getting ready for bed, lying down, pretending to be asleep. Then he got up again, dressed in the dark, and went downstairs, headed for the control room. Klaus could see a few ghosts hanging about, though they were staying away from him for the moment. That was nice. 

When he reached the control room, it was to see Allison, Diego, Luther, Ben, and Five waiting. Vanya was on the other side of the glass, holding her violin. Five said, "Scenario 616, Vanya is going to spar with you."

"Oh great," Klaus muttered and went into the control room. 

He wasn't feeling up to this. Any of it. He wanted to be upstairs, tucked in bed. Or even better back in Vietnam with Dave. Anywhere but here, a simulated city street, standing across from his most dangerous sibling. Vanya herself didn't look thrilled at the prospect, but she squared her shoulders and said, "When you're ready."

"I'm never ready," he replied. Klaus closed his eyes, feeling the dead who were in the room with them. Maybe about six or seven, not great but not bad. He then made them visible and corporeal, ready to start when Vanya was. 

Vanya had started playing her violin, and that strange otherworldly energy was swirling around her. Klaus commanded the ghosts to make her stop, but when they approached, the energy seized them. They were crying out in pain, and while Klaus wasn't particularly fond of the dead, he didn't want to hurt anyone. 

"Wait, time out! Time out!" Klaus said.

But Vanya was gone. Her eyes were white, her power had taken over. Klaus reached out with his own and immediately made the ghosts intangible again, commanding them to leave. They were puzzled, one was crying. Jesus what did she do to them?

"Vanya, you have to stop," said Klaus. "I don't know--"

But there was too much energy around her. Klaus recognized it from the Icarus Theater, and he wasn't stupid enough to hang around. He ran for his life. 

Five's voice came over the PA system, saying, "Klaus, you have to fight her!"

He was about to tell Five all the ways he could go fuck himself when something hit Klaus in the back. And oh shit. He did not miss this at _all_. It was the weird energy tentacle thing she'd hit him with before. Klaus could feel his energy being drained. And try as he might, he couldn't escape. 

Klaus was lifted off the ground and as he faced Vanya he said, "Please." 

Vanya didn't speak. Klaus wasn't even sure she heard him. He closed his eyes and wished for it to be over. Then he heard birds chirping and there was grass under his body. He sighed in relief, not opening his eyes. He heard someone walking towards him, and Klaus didn't move. 

"You're a sight for sore eyes, Spook." 

His eyes opened to Dave looking down at him.

"Dave?" he said, hardly able to believe it.

"Yeah, it's me," he replied.

Klaus jumped to his feet and threw himself at Dave, hugging him tightly. Dave hugged back and kissed his hair. 

"I miss you so much," Klaus said. 

"I know. I miss you too."

Klaus pulled away from him a little, cupping Dave's face with his hands. "They said I wouldn't see you again until I died for real."

"They might have made an exception," Dave said to him. "I know how hard it's been for you."

"I'm going crazy down there. Like, literally crazy. I had a panic attack so bad they sedated me. And now my fucking brothers and sisters are trying to kill me too and I don't want to go back," Klaus said, letting out a wail.

Dave hugged Klaus again, kissing him soundly. Klaus kissed him back, face wet with tears. When they came up for air again, Dave said, "I'm sorry you're hurting. But I'm waiting for you."

"Could you come back with me?" Klaus asked.

Dave shook his head. "I'm dead, darlin'. And I'm not earthbound like those poor souls you see downstairs. I don't belong down there anymore." 

"It's just so hard," said Klaus. "I'm on my own at the Academy. They don't give a shit about me."

"They do, but not in the way you need them to care," Dave said. "The problem is they're taking your immortality for granted. I'm not saying it's right, and I'm not saying it's fair because it isn't. But you're going to have to hang in there."

"How long?" 

At that, Dave looked around, as though expecting to be overheard. He then whispered in Klaus's ear, "October 31st, 2020."

"That's over a decade from now!" Klaus bellowed.

"Shh, keep your voice down," said Dave. 

"Dave, do you know how much they're going to kill me between now and then?" Klaus asked. "Because it's gonna be a lot!"

"I know. And I shouldn't have said anything, but I can't watch you go through this with no end in sight," Dave told him.

Klaus was getting disoriented; he was fading fast. He clung to Dave, saying, "No, don't let me go."

"I love you," Dave told him. "I love you so much. I'll be waiting here when it's your time."

"I don't want to go back, please don't make me," Klaus begged. 

But Dave was gone. He was on the floor of the control room, back propped up against the wall. The simulation was turned off. Vanya was a few feet away, back to normal it appeared. Five was crouched next to him, and he said, "Klaus, can you hear me?"

"Yes?"

"Are you okay?"

In answer, Klaus grabbed him by the collar and punched Five in the face. Klaus got to his feet as Five cursed a blue streak, and let himself out of the control room. 

Vanya caught up with him, saying, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to, I lost control."

"Save it," Klaus said. 

The others were gathered around the door, Allison asking, "Klaus, are you all right?"

"Are you hurt?" Asked Diego.

Ben looked at the others and said, "Let him breathe for pity's sake!"

Klaus shook his head sadly and pushed through his siblings, going back upstairs. He was going to go to bed, and forget this ever happened. However, he stopped long enough to say, "I'm not going to live forever. Someday, I am going to die, and it's going to stick. I hope when that day comes it's not because my family decided I'm expendable." 

With that, he left.


	13. Chemical Pneumonia

This had to be one of the worst yet. 

Another villain hideout, another plan to take over the world, nothing special there. The problem was, this guy had used mustard gas from World War I. What kind of a sadistic asshole just has fucking mustard gas? They didn't have gas masks on them, and no way that Sir Reginald was going to risk his precious team. 

So Klaus was voluntold to go in and deactivate the defense systems. And he could tell you, trying to find the off switch while blood was pouring out of your eyes, nose, mouth, and ears was a challenge. But he found it. The gas was vented, and his siblings were able to come in and kick ass. Klaus collapsed from the gas and died choking on his own blood.

No one was around in the Break Room this time (what he'd started calling that place between life and death in his head), so he waited in silence. He mulled over the past few weeks, ever since Vanya had killed him. She had literally sucked the life out of him, and it had felt pretty fucking awful. 

Since then, he'd avoided his siblings. He couldn't trust them anymore. Well, maybe Ben. He seemed to be the only one who actually gave a damn that Klaus wasn't feeling so hot. After the Vanya incident, he was exhausted for a week, to the point he fainted in the middle of training. He regained consciousness when Sir Reginald hit him across the face with his cane. 

Klaus had mumbled an apology and gotten back on his feet. The old man would sooner die than cut him a break, so Klaus didn't ask for one. He got worried glances from Allison and Diego, which he ignored. Not like they were going to try to stop Sir Reginald. Or Five, who kept trying to order, coax, and downright threaten Klaus to join the apocalypse training again. 

He'd refused and told Five where to stick it. Klaus didn't give a shit about the apocalypse. Klaus also kept his death date to himself. He had a sneaking suspicion that it might have something to do with the end of the world. And yeah, he probably should have told the others. But what would be the point? They'd just use it against him anyway. 

Though, something weird was happening. About two or three times, Klaus was sure that the Break Room was fading, and he was about to wake up. But then it would solidify and he'd still be on the country road. He briefly hoped that maybe Death had changed their mind, and he was here to stay. But if that was the case, where was Dave? 

It was when Klaus woke up in the infirmary that he knew something was wrong. He was coughing up a lung, and he turned his head and spit on the floor. Bloody mucus; okay that wasn't good. 

Mom was right there, observing him with a slight frown on her face. Pogo was puttering around too, and he said, "Master Klaus, I'm glad to see you're awake."

Klaus coughed again, then asked, "W'srong?" His words were slurred like he couldn't quite manage to form them.

"It seems the effects of the gas were more persistent than we thought," Pogo said. "Grace, if you would, please."

"Of course," she said, tying a tourniquet around his arm.

Klaus didn't get a chance to ask what was happening before inserting an IV line into his hand. She loosened the tourniquet as Pogo explained, "This should help, but I'm afraid you have a long way to go in regards to recovery. You died several times between the mission extraction site and the Academy. I fear this might be more than even your power can handle."

So his power had limits, and lethal chemical gasses were one of them. That was good to know. Maybe all he really needed was to lock himself in the garage and turn on Hermes. Carbon monoxide was supposed to be like going to sleep. Wasn't it? Probably not.

Klaus was sick as fuck for over a week. Mom said he had chemical pneumonia, which was exactly as fun as it sounded. He had to sleep sitting up if he slept at all that is. He couldn't keep any food down and he was always coughing. When he was finally released from the infirmary, he was still coughing up globs of mucus which is exactly as attractive as it sounds. 

He was on modified duty, with Sir Reginald occasionally pulling him aside and quizzing him on what he'd experienced when he'd had his multiple deaths. Klaus told him the truth, but of course, Sir Reginald didn't believe him about the Break Room. No one did. 

"Simply a trick your mind is playing on you, Number Four," said Sir Reginald. "I assume from lack of oxygen. Or perhaps another fanciful tale to elicit sympathy."

Klaus glared at him. He knew he'd pay for this later, but he was pissed. "I'm not doing this for funsies! You assholes are the ones who keep murdering me over and over again!" 

Sir Reginald raised an eyebrow and asked, "To whom else are you referring?"

Fuck, he wasn't supposed to know about the extra training. "You and the supervillains," he muttered. That was reasonable enough, wasn't it? Yeah, the cat had been out of the bag on Klaus's immortality since Ben, Sir Reginald hadn't expected to keep it a secret forever. But not the apocalypse training.

"I see. You realize, of course, I know about the control room," he said.

Klaus froze. "I dunno what you're talking about."

Sir Reginald stood and walked around Klaus's chair, hands on his shoulders. "Ordinarily, I perform my experiments when you and the other children are asleep. You haven't been in your rooms at night. I should remind you as well the control room is monitored, I can see who goes in, who goes out, and what they're doing."

He was so fucked. But Klaus was just as stubborn and said, "I don't know anything."

"I won't stop them, or you," Sir Reginald said. "The reason I formed the Umbrella Academy was to save the world. If you know what threats lay before you, I would prefer you train to face them head-on."

Klaus was about to reply when another coughing fit racked his body. He bent over, coughing so hard he couldn't get any air. Sir Reginald pressed a handkerchief into his palm and said, "Cover your mouth."

He did, continuing to cough. When he could finally get enough air to breathe, he said, "I'm not training."

"You are, starting next week," Sir Reginald said.

"No, I can't," Klaus said, gesturing to his chest. "Don't you get it? It's not working anymore! I'm not coming back... Whole." He didn't know how else to put it. Before he had that regeneration thing. Now he was coming back but he had to recover from whatever had been done to him. It was taking longer than in the past. Maybe because he was getting older? His body had to be seventeen by now. 

"I admit I was incorrect in regards to your regenerative abilities," Sir Reginald said. "But you will train with the others. Or you will train with me. It is your choice."

It wasn't a choice at all and the sick bastard knew it. Klaus didn't answer, he got up and left the office. He didn't ask for Sir Reginald to excuse him which would probably get him yet another punishment. He was always doing something to fuck up. Klaus was such an idiot. 

Klaus tracked down Five and pulled him into his room, slamming the door.

"What the hell--" Five started but Klaus cut him off.

"Dad knows about the apocalypse training," he said, no preamble, no bullshit.

Five narrowed his eyes. "You're lying."

"I'm not!" Klaus yelled, then stopped to take a breath. When had the air gotten so thin? "He's got the control room wired, he's been spying on us," Klaus insisted. "And... He says he knows we've been out of bed because he experiments on us when we fall asleep." 

"Why are you telling me this?" Five asked.

Klaus ran a hand through his hair. "He says I either have to start training with you guys again or he's going to make me train more with him."

"So you're back?" Five crossed his arms over his chest.

Klaus started coughing again, but it was a little easier this time. "Not right away."

"What's wrong with you?" 

Klaus explained what Sir Reginald and Pogo had told him. About how Klaus wasn't bouncing back quite like he used to. And this wasn't the first time, just the most obvious. He concluded, "There's something wrong."

Five seemed to consider this, then said, "I'm going to talk with the old man."

"Wait--" But Five had vanished.

Klaus sighed and dragged himself back to his own room. God today sucked. He collapsed on the bed face down, wondering if he'd stop breathing again that day. It hardly seemed to matter. Even if he wasn't healing like he used to, they'd keep killing him. 

"October 31st, 2020," Klaus mumbled to himself. Maybe if he said it enough he'd believe it. The end wasn't near, but at least he knew when it was.


	14. Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for character burned alive

"I hate you," Klaus said.

"Just get in there," Five replied. Though his tone was tinged with something... Regret? This was his fucking idea, what did he have to be regretful about?

He shook his head. "No, I won't do it." 

"Number Four, this is non-negotiable," Sir Reginald said. 

"Fuck you both! You can't make me!"

Sir Reginald seized him by the arm and pushed him into the lab. Fuck, Klaus forgot how strong he was. He handcuffed Klaus to the wall and then walked out, closing the door. He and Five were in the observation room. Pogo and Mom were absent this time. Probably because if they knew what was happening they would try to stop them. 

Five and Sir Reginald had a discussion. A discussion that did not involve Klaus, because apparently, his mental health and well being wasn't important when it came to saving the world. Five told Dad everything. Like, literally everything. He even mentioned that time Klaus got kidnapped by Hazel and Cha-Cha. 

Somehow, their talk came around to testing Klaus's "new" power to see if it could stand up to an apocalypse. Which Klaus was understandably not happy about. Since Five told Sir Reginald that the world ends in a giant fireball, guess how they wanted to test it out? 

"You can't do this!" Klaus yelled at them. They didn't respond. Though Five wasn't looking at him, he had his head turned away. At that, he shouted, "This is your fault, Five! You better be watching this, you fucking coward!" He was just as culpable as Sir Reginald, fuck Five if he really thought that his hands were clean. 

His heart was in his throat when he heard a hissing noise. Oh God, they were going to do it, they were really going through with this. There was a clicking sound, and then Klaus screamed. He tried to get out of the handcuff, but it was so hard to move. The last thought he had was, 'this is what they do to witches'.

Then he was in the Break Room and he didn't have to think anymore. 

"Fire? What the hell is wrong with those two?" 

Klaus sighed and took the cigarette the Devil offered him. "I don't know man. Five's still on his apocalypse kick."

The Devil snorted. "He's not going to be able to stop it." He reached over and lit the cigarette for Klaus.

Klaus stared. "What?"

"The apocalypse. He can't stop it," the Devil said. 

"Are you telling me they just burned me to death for nothing?" He exhaled the smoke. "God fucking dammit."

"You ever heard the story about the appointment in Samarra?" The Devil asked.

Klaus shook his head.

"Didn't think so, you don't seem to be the kind of person interested in ancient Mesopotamian myths."

"Hey fuck you."

The Devil held his hands up. "I'm not calling you stupid, just listen for a moment."

Klaus took another drag off his cigarette and gestured for the Devil to continue.

"So there's this guy, he's a servant who works for a wealthy merchant. He goes to the market in Baghdad and bumps into this woman and the woman is Death. Which freaks him right the hell out so he begs his master for a horse to go to Samarra since he figures Death won't find him there," said the Devil.

"Hey, I've heard this story before!" Klaus said, snapping his fingers. " _Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark_! But it's a kid who works on a farm and his Dad gives him a truck so he can run off and hide in the city. The Dad goes to find Death afterward and is like, 'Hey why'd you scare my son?' And Death's all, 'I was surprised to see him is all. I've got an appointment with him in the city this afternoon.'"

The Devil laughed. "Yeah, that's the story. Five is like that kid. The more he tries to stop the apocalypse the worse he's going to make it."

Klaus sat there, quiet, mulling it over. Just enough time to finish his cigarette. He ground it out under his foot, then asked, "What if he stops?"

"I'm not sure, you'd have to ask God," the Devil said.

"Yeah, where is She anyway?" Klaus asked. He hadn't seen Her since the bleach incident. 

"Busy. She's the Almighty, She can't hang around with you all day," said the Devil. 

Klaus sighed. "So like, how come I'm not springing back like I used to?"

"Your body can only take so much abuse," the Devil said. "Even with Death refusing to claim you. For example, this burning you at the stake bullshit that Mr. Murderbritches and the Monopoly Guy just pulled? That's gonna take about a month."

Klaus laughed at the name Mr. Murderbritches. "You mean the video with the baby bobcat right? I love that one."

"Me, too," said the Devil, laughing as well. 

He sighed. "They're never going to let me go, are they?" Klaus asked sadly.

The Devil shook his head. "No." 

"I miss Dave," he said. 

"You're not alone down there you know."

"What do you mean?"

The Devil smirked. "You've got your powers. You've got the ghosts."

"And a fat lot of good they've--"

"Stop," said the Devil. "I know you hate your powers. But stop being afraid of the dead and start being afraid of the living, because they're the ones who are going to cause you the most harm."

Klaus frowned. "Why are you telling me this?" Like yeah, he was nice and everything. But could he trust the Devil? 

"Believe it or not, I'm not a sadist. And you can't escape your destiny but you can make it a little easier on yourself." The Devil shrugged. "My advice? Either kill your family or get back on the drugs."

"I can't kill my family!" Klaus exclaimed. 

"Can't or won't?"

And wasn't that the sixty-four million dollar question. In theory, he could. Klaus had been thinking about it more and more lately. Between the deaths and their indifference to his pain, he'd fantasized about it. Going from room to room and killing them all, then leaving the Academy and never coming back. 

The one thing holding him back from enacting his murderous rampage was the thought of his brothers, sisters, and father haunting him. Because they would. And if Klaus thought his life was hell now, he couldn't imagine life with the ghosts of the Umbrella Academy. Besides, even after all the awful things they'd done to him, Klaus still loved them. 

Wasn't that sick?

"I won't," Klaus concluded. 

"Figured as much," said the Devil. "See, this is precisely why I don't want you in hell. You won't even kill to protect yourself."

"I guess I'm just a coward."

"Yeah, a little bit. But you're also a good man. Don't let them tell you differently."

The Break Room was starting to fade, and Klaus waved goodbye to the Devil. "Hail Satan," he said jokingly.

"Oh fuck off, Hargreeves." 

Klaus woke slowly. He felt like shit. He smelled like bacon. He managed to lift his head a little and saw he was covered in burns. He looked like a charcoal briquette. Why wasn't he in more pain? Surely this would cause agony, wouldn't it? Then anatomy class came back to him and he realized what had happened. 

He was burned so badly his nerve endings were gone. No wonder he couldn't feel anything. Well, nothing but exhaustion. He heard an electric pop and then Five was standing there. "Klaus! Are you alive?" 

He couldn't respond, at least not with words. When he tried to speak no sound came out. Oh, he'd probably burned his throat, too. He looked at Five and was surprised when his vision got blurry. Tears. Burned to a fucking crisp but he could still cry. That was just great. 

Klaus heard Sir Reginald's voice on the intercom. "Well?"

"He's alive," Five confirmed. "But he needs a hospital."

"Nonsense. Grace can take care of him," Sir Reginald said.

"He's not regenerating!" Five insisted. 

"Grace has more knowledge about medicine than any doctor in the city. She can take care of Number Four until he recovers," Sir Reginald said. 

Klaus closed his eyes. He'd heard enough. He knew what lay before him. Regrowing skin and his central nervous system. He'd be in so much pain he wouldn't be able to breathe. Klaus didn't want any part of it. Five and Sir Reginald continued to argue, but Klaus had tuned them out.

It wasn't until someone was lifting him that he opened his eyes again. He was on a gurney, being pushed out of the lab, but he couldn't see by who. Then he was in the elevator, and his heart sped up. They were taking him back downstairs. They were going to hide him from the others. Who knew how long he'd be in the cell?

He didn't have it in him to fight. He didn't try to escape either. Might as well let it happen. At least if he was locked up maybe they wouldn't murder him again, at least for a while. Once he was in the cell, it was to see Five standing over him. "For what it's worth," he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." He trailed off.

Klaus was glaring at Five, pouring all of his hatred and anger into his gaze. He wanted Five to know he blamed him for this. His metaphorical blood was on Five's hands rather than Sir Reginald's. Klaus hadn't thought of him as his father in ages. But Five? They were supposed to be brothers. He was mentally screaming at him, _'This is your fault!'_

Five stepped away, clutching his head like he had the worst migraine in the world. He said, "Stop it, Klaus."

 _'Stop what?'_ , Klaus wondered. He wasn't doing anything except lying there and being angry. 

"Stop **that**! Get out of my head, Klaus! I'm sorry okay?! I--" Five said. Then there was the little fizz pop of Five's spacial jump, and he was gone.

He was alone, and Klaus now wondered what the hell just happened.


	15. Science Gone Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: body horror

He wasn't healing, at least not the way he had before. Klaus had to be kept in this freakin' tube because what skin he did have wasn't protecting him from getting an infection. A hyperbaric chamber. Did Sir Reginald just jack shit from the hospital or did he have it on standby just in case? Klaus's money was on the latter. 

Mom would check on him, give him meds, make sure he wasn't dying again. Klaus couldn't move, and sometimes he begged for God or the Devil to put him out of his misery. 

Klaus sometimes fantasized about his siblings coming to save him, taking him to a hospital. Getting him away from the Academy. But as far as he could tell, they hadn't noticed he was gone. Again. It was amazing that even though he didn't trust them anymore, he'd held out some hope of rescue. God, he was stupid.

Then came the day when Pogo and Sir Reginald came in the room, Grace standing by. She looked worried, and so did Pogo. Klaus wanted to ask what was wrong, but he couldn't really talk. His vocal cords were still damaged from the fire. He heard a hissing noise as the oxygen was turned off, and then the top of the chamber opened. 

"Master Klaus? Blink if you can hear me."

Klaus rolled his eyes and blinked.

"Your father is aware that your health is not improving. He's requested that we use a special serum on you that should help you to heal," he said.

He frowned. Wait, they didn't mean, they couldn't--

Klaus tried to get up, but it was impossible, he was in too much pain. And he didn't get a chance anyway, as Pogo's monkey paw came out of nowhere and stabbed him in the chest with a syringe. As the serum was injected into his body, Klaus managed to pull himself together enough to scream. 

It hurt, fuck it hurt! It felt like he was being injected with fire ants! How the fuck did Luther live through this?! Then he remembered, Luther was already dead when they'd given it to him. Sir Reginald likely hadn't tested it on a live subject. Klaus wasn't a scientist, but he was pretty sure that was bad. 

His muscles cramped, his back arched, he couldn't control his body. He was wracked with spasms and he couldn't breathe. This was the worst pain he'd ever been in, and considering he recently got set on fucking **fire** that was really saying something. He couldn't draw breath to scream again. 

Klaus managed to turn his head, looking at Pogo as he backed away. He projected into his mind, _How could you?!_. Or at least he tried to. He wasn't able to get through. He got a general sense of what Pogo was thinking (horror) but he couldn't read his thoughts or project his own.

He then looked at where Sir Reginald watched from the corner. Against his better judgment, he tried to project the thought into Sir Reginald's mind. 

Nothing. He might as well have been beating his fists against a brick wall. He could still pick up something from Sir Reginald, but he couldn't do to him what Klaus had done to Five. Then his body spasmed again, and Klaus couldn't think clearly. 

He watched in horror as his arms and legs doubled in size, then deflated. His chest rose, swelling with new and unfamiliar muscles, then shrank. His skin grew and knit together, then turned tough and gray before melting away again. There was a horrible thumping sound, like a psychotic drum. Klaus realized it was his heart, which was growing just like everything else had.

Klaus wasn't surprised when he found himself back in the Break Room. This time God was there, and She was looking at him curiously. 

"That sucked," Klaus said, rubbing his neck. "I hope I don't look like Luther when I wake up."

"You won't," She assured him and he sighed. 

"Thank you. How's it going?"

"I suppose it's going well. You've been busy," She observed.

Klaus nodded. "Yeah. I have some questions though."

"Proceed."

Well damn, maybe she was warming up to him. She didn't give him shit this time. That was nice. "Am I really going to die on Halloween?"

"In 2020, yes."

"Dammit," Klaus muttered. "I was really hoping I wouldn't have to keep putting up with this shit." 

God tilted Her head to the side. "And the other question?"

"Why can't I read Pogo's mind? Or Reggie's?" Klaus asked.

"They're not human, you are," She said.

Klaus stared for a minute, then said, "Oh crap, Reggie is a space alien isn't he?"

"Yes," God said.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't suppose pointing out he's the reason I've died so much would count towards that "not of this world" bullshit that was part of the deal."

"Not unless he's killed you with his own two hands," said God.

"Yeah, he doesn't like getting his hands dirty," Klaus conceded. He looked down at God and asked, "Do you hate me?" 

"I don't like you," She said. "But I wouldn't say I hate you." 

"It's just... This is a lot," Klaus told her. "I don't know how much longer I can hang in there without losing my mind." 

"I'm aware that Samael gave you some advice the last time you were here," God said. "Allow me to do the same. Tell Five the apocalypse will still happen if he can't save all of you."

"Even me?" Klaus asked.

"Especially you," God replied. 

"But the Devil said the apocalypse can't be stopped."

"It can't, but it can be delayed," God told him. 

"He's not going to believe me." 

God nodded sadly. "I know. Tell him anyway." 

Klaus looked around. "It's taking longer this time."

"Your body is trying to reset itself to what it was before Sir Reginald interfered," God explained. 

"Huh... You wanna play poker?" 

God frowned at him. "What?"

"I mean if it's gonna be a while, we could play a game," Klaus pointed out. 

At this, God actually smiled at him. "Old Maid."

"Done."

They sat in the grass together and played cards. Unsurprisingly, God won. It was a welcome respite from what he knew was waiting for him. And God wasn't so bad, once you got to know Her. Klaus was still agnostic though, he just wouldn't tell God that. He still wasn't sure that the Break Room, God, the Devil, and Dave weren't all in his head. 

When he woke up again, he was in the hyperbaric chamber, and when he raised his arm, he saw his skin was still badly burned. Klaus silently thanked God for it. Yeah, this sucked, but he'd take it over monkey limbs any day. 

Someone had hooked him up to an IV, and Klaus watched the steady drip drip drip of fluids from the bag down into the line. It was with a rather fuzzy awareness that he was being given morphine. He closed his eyes and tried to push everything else out. The dull pain under the drugs, that look on Pogo's face as he watched Klaus's body contort in unnatural ways.

Then he heard a knocking, knocking on the chamber door (heh). His eyes opened to see Five standing over him. The little shit. 

"Dad says the serum didn't work," he said. 

_'Fuck off,'_ Klaus thought. 

Five winced. "How are you doing that?" 

_'How should I know?'_

"Can't you use your words?"

_'Voice is damaged.'_

He was looking at Klaus as though he were something loathsome. Like a bug half crushed under his foot. Five said, "You've been able to read minds this entire time?"

_'No, because it only seems to work when I'm angry or in pain. Guess which one I am now?'_

At that, Five looked guilty. "I'm sorry. I promise he won't do that to you again."

_'But you will.'_

"That's not true!" Five said. 

_'Then get me out of here.'_

"I can't do that, you're still healing."

_'After, then.'_

Klaus didn't need to read Five's mind to know why he suddenly looked so shifty. "I don't think that's a good idea." 

_'Remember when I told you your drug was the apocalypse?'_ And boy, did Klaus remember that conversation. Five had been defensive and angry, lashing out and saying how he and Klaus were nothing alike. Which, ow. That hurt. But it was true. 

"I remember how wrong you were," Five countered.

_'Yeah, well I have a message for you. From God's lips to your ears. The apocalypse will still happen if you can't save us all.'_

At that, Five scoffed. "You're delusional. There is no God, and even if there were, I doubt He would be giving you messages for me." 

_'She. The Devil says the apocalypse can't be stopped, but God says it can be delayed.'_

"You just want out," Five accused. "You'll say anything to get out of training and out of the Academy. I'm not falling for it." 

_'Suit yourself.'_

Five disappeared from the room. Klaus sighed. Well, he tried. No one could say he didn't try. Personally, now he was hoping for an apocalypse. Not just so his pain would end, but also because Klaus hated Five. He hated his denial. He hated his determination to accomplish his stupid apocalypse mission with no regard for who got hurt or died in the process.

Most of all, Klaus hated himself. He let them do this to him. He could have summoned ghosts to stop them. Hell, he could have a whole host of powers at his disposal that he didn't even know about. He'd have to practice.

Later, though. When he was healed and wasn't drugged up to his eyeballs.


	16. Hallucinations

Days were passing, he was sure of it. The road to recovery was a long one. Though not as long for him as it would be for a normal person. Still, regrowing your skin wasn't a fun activity and anyone who said otherwise was insane. The stupid monkey serum had actually set him back, so the healing process had started all over again. 

At least he wouldn't be a hairy ape, like Luther. 

No one came, except for Mom. She tended his wounds with cheerful indifference to his suffering. Five was either too guilty or too afraid to visit again. As for Sir Reginald, who knew what that monster was thinking. Maybe Five had tipped him off about what Klaus had done, and that was why he was staying away. Not like it mattered since Klaus couldn't read his mind anyway.

Klaus knew that staying sober would have some advantages. Not a lot mind you, but some. Discovering new powers was one of them. He was trying to practice, but with the pain and isolation, it was difficult for him to think. Besides he couldn't read Grace's mind, she was a fucking robot. 

He spent most of his time between agony and ecstasy. He dreamed a lot, mostly about Dave but sometimes about Ben. His Ben, not the living Ben. Or he'd have nightmares about Sir Reginald. It was a grab bag of trauma lived through dreams and he high key hated it. 

Then one day the door opened, and he heard a soft gasp and, "Oh no." He lifted his head to see Allison standing in the doorway, shock written all over her face. He could see himself from her perspective, and fuck, he looked terrible. Naked with red skin, like a giant piece of beef jerky. He wasn't feeling so great either. 

Klaus managed to smile and said, _'Hi Allie'_. 

She jumped. "Did you... Were you in my mind?" 

_Still am._

He got a rush of embarrassment from her, then determination. "Dad said there was a training accident." 

_They set me on fire to see if I'd survive the apocalypse. Then Dad tried his monkey experiment on me and it didn't work._

"Sweet Jesus," she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks. She was afraid to get close, afraid of hurting him. God this was so weird. "I knew he was lying. We need to get Luther."

_Why?_

"So we can get you out of here!" Allison said. "This is inhumane. I don't care if you'll live through it, they've gone too far! I'm telling the others." 

_Five already knows. This was his idea._

At that, Allison looked like she was going to be sick. "He let Dad do this?"

_Yes._

"He's a monster," she whispered. Then she tilted her head and asked, "Can you talk?"

_Hurts too much._

Allison took a hesitant step closer to the bed. She was still afraid of causing him pain. And full of guilt for not speaking up before. It was... A nice feeling, actually. Now that he could see inside her head, he realized why she hadn't tried to stop Dad or Five. She was afraid to. She wanted her daughter back so badly Klaus could practically taste it. If he had a kid, he'd probably feel the same way. 

She leaned over Klaus, and whispered into his ear, "I heard a rumor you weren't in pain anymore." 

There was an odd sensation all over his body. Like cold water was being poured over him. He heard Allison gasp, and then Klaus wasn't hurting anymore. He felt... Great, actually. Better than he'd felt in years. He sat up and saw that he was back to normal.

"Holy shit," Klaus said.

Allison was still in tears, and she jumped on the bed and hugged Klaus. He hugged her back and tried to calm her down. It was kind of making his head spin, how upset she was. And that he could hear inside her head. She pulled back and said, "Come on, we need to go."

"Where we going?" Klaus asked.

"Away from here," Allison replied. 

"Don't tell anyone," he said.

Allison paused. "What?"

"Don't tell anyone I can read their mind. I want to make sure they're not going to snitch on me."

She hesitated since she told Luther everything. But then the mental picture of his burns entered her mind again, and she agreed. 

They crept upstairs, Klaus naked as the day he was born. Strangely, he didn't feel the cold. Occasionally he'd feel like a blanket was wrapped around him, but he chalked it up to delirium. 

They stopped in his room so Klaus could get dressed, then Allison told him to wait in her room. Klaus was nervous. He didn't know if he could trust the others. He'd seen inside Allison's mind, and that she wanted to get him away from Sir Reginald and Five. The rest, who knew?

She returned with Luther, Vanya, Diego, and Ben. Klaus looked at Allison, and yes, she had kept her word. He then said, "Everyone hold still, this might tickle."

"Why? What are you--" Luther started.

Klaus reached out to each of them with his mind. It was hard since he'd never done this before. And the effort was taking its toll on him. Mostly, he could see they were sleepy and confused. Nothing malicious, at least not yet. 

There was a flash, like the lights turning on then off. Klaus blinked, was there a power surge? 

"Okay, Allison, tell them," he said. 

"Five and Dad set Klaus on fire to test his powers," Allison said. "We need to get him and ourselves out of here." 

Disbelief, skepticism, and anguish. The last was coming from Ben, who looked just as hurt. Klaus could see in his mind that he'd been talking with Allison, about how something wasn't right. Allison had begged him to help her look for him, but Ben had offered to distract Five and Sir Reginald instead. It's why he was still in his uniform rather than his pajamas, he had only just gotten back from one on one training.

Klaus felt a deep affection for his brother at that moment, and he reached out and pulled him into a hug. Though... Why did it feel like hugging a pillow? Weird. 

"I'm so sorry," Ben said.

"Doesn't matter, we're leaving," Klaus replied. 

"We can't just leave in the middle of the night," Luther said.

"We can and we will," Allison said. "We can't let them keep doing this to Klaus."

"But he--" Luther started.

"Stop it!" Diego interrupted. "They're going to kill him eventually! Don't you see that?!"

Vanya nodded. "We came back to stop the apocalypse. But if we're going to do that, we need everyone together and whole." 

"He looks fine to me," Luther muttered.

Klaus frowned and said, "You're thinking about getting Dad."

"No, I'm not."

"Yeah, you are," he then said to Allison, "We should leave him." 

"After all this time Luther?!" Allison said, annoyed. "Did you forget what Dad did to you? Do you really think he'd hesitate to hurt any one of us, to hurt me? If it meant saving the world?"

And, yep, that did it. Luther sighed and said, "Fine. But we need money."

"I can get us some," Allison said. "Everyone get dressed. Don't bring anything but the essentials." 

"What about Five?" Luther asked.

"Fuck Five," Diego said. "I'm gonna go get the keys to the car."

"Where's Dad now?" Vanya asked.

Klaus held up a hand and reached out with his mind. Pogo was asleep, so was Five. Then he found Sir Reginald. "He's in his study, he's writing something. The door's closed." 

"I swear he doesn't sleep," Diego muttered.

They dispersed, and Klaus finally felt relief. They were leaving. They were going to escape. And it would work this time because he had his brothers and his sisters with him. He was so excited. But something felt off. He couldn't figure out what it was. Maybe it was how he was walking but it felt like there was nothing under his feet. 

Klaus found Diego in the kitchen downstairs, keys in hand. While they waited for the others, Diego said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Klaus asked.

"For not doing this sooner," Diego replied. 

"At least we're getting out now," Klaus said. 

At that moment, Vanya and Allison came into the kitchen, each carrying a bag. "Aren't you bringing anything?" Vanya asked.

Klaus shook his head. "No, I don't want anything from this stupid place. I just want to get out of here." 

Ben was next, no bag in sight but he did have a wad of cash.

"Where'd you get that?" Diego asked.

"Stole it," Ben said with a shrug.

Klaus laughed. "I knew I'd be a corrupting influence on you." 

Luther was the last to show, carrying a bag as well. He nodded, and they left. They crept out to the garage, and Diego let them into the Hermes. The car fit all of them easily, and when he was behind the wheel Diego said, "Buckle up." 

Klaus smiled, his heart in his throat. They were leaving! They would get away from the Academy and everything would be okay. Diego started the car and hit the button for the garage door. Klaus half expected to see Sir Reginald there, but a quick check and he knew that the monster was still in his lair. 

In no time at all, they were on the road. Klaus was riding shotgun, Luther and the girls were in the back. He rolled down the window, wanting to feel fresh air on his face. But he felt nothing. Klaus frowned. What the hell was going on? And there was no road noise, either. Or even the sense the car was in motion.

"Where am I?" Klaus asked. 

No one responded. It was like they were frozen.

Klaus could feel he was breathing, but nothing else around him was making a sound. He rubbed his eyes, and he could see light again. Fluorescent light. Like in the cell. 

It was then that Klaus realized Ben was gone. Diego was fading fast, and in the next instant, he was gone too. 

"No," he whispered, looking at his remaining brother and sisters. "No, please."

The fluorescent light was blinding him. He wasn't in the car anymore. He was still in his cell. Still hooked up to an IV. The morphine. He'd hallucinated the entire thing. He wasn't free, he'd never be free. His siblings would never come for him. He'd die down here. 

Klaus was hyperventilating. Was this another panic attack? He didn't know. Someone was screaming, loud, and pained. Then he heard someone reply, "Number Four, control yourself." 

The screaming wouldn't stop, Klaus covered his ears to try to block it out. Then there was a pain in his arm, and Klaus blacked out.


	17. Wrongfully Accused

When they finally let him out, Klaus wondered where the hell Sir Reginald had been for the last... However long he was down there. Klaus couldn't remember most of it, not after the morphine hallucination. He remembered pain, physical and mental, but that was about it. Oh, and Grace alternating between shoving pills down his throat and giving him injections.

When he passed a mirror, he saw that he was as white as a sheet, with dark circles under his eyes.

Klaus was sick from whatever they'd been forcing on him. So much so he didn't seek out his siblings, he just wanted to go to bed. And as he entered his room for the first time in who knows how long, it was to see Diego going through his things.

"Whatcha looking for?" Klaus asked tonelessly.

Diego froze, then turned and looked at Klaus. "You look like shit."

"Feel like it too," Klaus replied, shuffling past him and curling up on the bed.

"You're back on the drugs, aren't you?" Diego said.

Klaus didn't move or respond. He was so tired, his heart hurt, his soul hurt. He wanted to lie there and forget everything that happened. But then Diego was pulling him into a sitting position. "Answer me!"

"Just what Grace was giving me," Klaus said. And it was the truth. He hadn't wanted it. While it gave him a temporary reprieve from reality, the inevitable crash was bad. Plus he couldn't use his powers, and he would need them to escape.

"Then how do you explain this?" Diego asked, thrusting something under Klaus's nose.

He blinked, unable to focus. Then he said, "Hey... The hell is that doing here?"

It was a heroin kit. Syringe, spoon, cheesecloth. And a little baggie of brown tucked in like it was nothing. Diego was glaring at him. "You promised you'd stay clean!"

"I have!" Klaus said.

"Bullshit you have!" Diego grabbed Klaus's arm and shoved up his sleeve. "What do you call these?"

Klaus stared down at his arm, and then said, "Track marks?" When the fuck had he gotten track marks?

Then he remembered. After his breakdown, the one caused by the morphine hallucination. Sir Reginald saying he knew a solution to keeping him under control. That's when Grace had started injecting him instead of using the IV line. No wonder he felt like absolute dogshit. She'd been giving him heroin.

"It's not what it looks like," Klaus said. "Diego, you've got to listen to me."

"You stay here," he said, fuming, and stormed out of the room.

Klaus sat on the edge of the bed, his hands curling in his hair. Diego came back with the other Hargreeveses, with the exception of Five. He slammed the door closed and said, "Klaus, do you have something to say?"

"Dad's kept me locked in the basement again," Klaus replied. "After he and Five set me on fire."

"Don't you mean after your breakdown?" Allison asked.

He looked up. "What?"

"Dad told us you had a nervous breakdown," Vanya said, her tone uncertain. "That you were imagining things."

"He also said it was caused by that shit you've been injecting into yourself," Luther replied.

"It was Grace!" Klaus yelled. "She's the one who's been giving it to me, on Dad's orders I'd like to add!"

"Do you know how insane that sounds?" Diego asked. "Dad's no saint, I hate him more than any of you. But he's never enabled you before, why would he start now?"

"You have to admit, it sounds pretty far fetched, Klaus," said Allison.

"You could have said no," Luther added.

"Ask Five! He was there, he can tell you," Klaus said. "He can tell you about the fire, and the fucking monkey serum! Dad tried to use it on me but it didn't work, it just killed me."

"Pretty convenient that Five's on a mission," Diego said.

Klaus looked at Ben, who'd been quiet the entire time. But this Ben wasn't his Ben, he didn't know everything Klaus had been through. He was shuffling his feet and refusing to look Klaus in the eye. Klaus tried to read his mind, any of their minds. The drugs in his system were making it impossible.

"Please," Klaus pleaded, looking at each of them in turn. Ben, Luther, Allison, Vanya, and lastly, Diego. "Please believe me? I know how it looks, and how it sounds, but I swear I'm telling you the truth. I'm not crazy! I need to get out of here. I'll go wherever you want. Rehab, the loony bin, I don't care so long as it's not the Academy. Please?"

There were some uneasy glances between them. Then Allison said, "There's something you should see."

She took his hand, and they left Klaus's room. They went to the surveillance room, where most of the screens were turned off. Allison located a tape and pushed it into the VCR. One of the screens flickered to life, and Klaus's stomach dropped at what he saw.

There he was, sitting in a little padded room, shrieking with laughter. Talking to someone that wasn't there, more specifically Ben. Carrying on as though his ghost were still by Klaus's side. Trying desperately to get out. Even wearing a straight jacket at one point as he rammed his head into the wall. Oh yeah, he looked crazy all right. There was even footage of Grace trying to give Klaus medication. Keyword "trying", as he bit her fingers any time she'd get close.

"They're setting me up," Klaus said when the tape finished.

"And I'm sure they planted this in your favorite hiding spot," Diego said, holding up the kit.

Klaus began to cry. "I just want out." He knew his tears would annoy Diego and Luther, but he couldn't stop them. 

"Maybe he's right," Vanya said.

Everyone turned to look at her, and Klaus didn't think he'd ever been so grateful in his life.

"Wait, you believe this lying sack of shit?" Diego asked, skepticism clear in his tone.

"Maybe being back at the Academy is doing something to him mentally," she continued. "We should get him out of here. Get him some real help."

Luther shook his head. "I don't buy it. I think it's another ploy for attention."

"Or a diversion tactic. Throwing us off because we caught him using again," Diego added.

"Wouldn't you say that's a little extreme?" Ben asked. "I know I haven't known Klaus as long as you guys, but if he's hurting maybe he does need outside help."

"That's just it, you don't know him like we do," Allison countered. She gave Klaus an apologetic look as she said, "I agree he needs help, but I think if he leaves he's just going to escape from wherever we send him and go right back to his old habits."

Vanya and Ben looked at each other, and then Vanya sighed and said, "Yeah, you're probably right. I'm sorry." 

"We should still get him to talk to someone," Ben said. 

"Do you think we could convince Dad to bring in a shrink?" Luther wondered.

"Fuck that, put him in detox first," Diego replied.

And there it was. They'd never forgive him for his past. They'd always see him as a junkie and an attention whore. Sir Reginald knew exactly how to play them so his brothers and sisters wouldn't believe him. Klaus could feel something in his mind was shutting down. He sank into the chair in front of the monitors, staring off into the distance.

They continued to bicker but eventually fell quiet. Klaus got the impression someone was speaking to him, however, he didn't respond. Why should he? Maybe he was blowing this out of proportion. After all, Klaus couldn't die, so it's not like any of what they were doing to him would kill him. It would just hurt a lot.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and dragged his eyes up to see Sir Reginald standing over him.

"You sick son of a bitch," Klaus muttered.

"The other children required proof, I provided it to them," Sir Reginald said.

Klaus glanced around the room and saw that they were long gone. "Why?"

"I'm aware of your vices," Sir Reginald said. "And I am not opposed to using them to my advantage when possible."

He snorted. "Yeah well... I'm not going to be super useful to anyone like this, am I? Can't use my powers." Klaus wiggled his fingers.

"I feel with time, and the appropriate dosage of medication, your powers will return," Sir Reginald said.

So that was his game. Keep Klaus sedated, but still useful. He put his head down on the desk in front of him, saying, "When I get out of here I'm never coming back."

"Given your past escape attempt, I thought it wise to keep a tighter leash on you," Sir Reginald said simply.

He tilted his head so he could look at Sir Reginald out of the corner of his eye. "What did you do?"

"An idea from Number Five. You needn't worry about it," he replied. "Get up, Number Four. Return to your room."

Klaus got to his feet and stumbled down the hall. There was a black pit of something nasty settling in his heart. As he watched his siblings talking, laughing, socializing like nothing was wrong. When he passed them, he'd get a dirty look or a worried one, depending on who it was. It was then he saw Five was back. He was looking at Klaus with... Regret? Again? Oh God...

So he was in on it. The frame job. Maybe it was his idea. Five was a clever bastard. 

When he did get back to his room, he closed the door and locked it. For all the good it would do him. Not like it would keep Five out. Klaus collapsed on his bed again, curling up as he did. As he saw their faces in his head, heard their words, Klaus found his heart filling with something dark. Something painful and angry.

It was with sudden clarity that Klaus knew what it was. Hate. He hated them. Dad, Mom, Pogo, Five, Luther, Diego, Allison, Vanya, even Ben. He hated them so much he was practically choking on it. After everything he'd suffered, the sacrifices he'd made... They'd never see him as anything but the sum total of his mistakes.

He needed his powers back. It was the only way to get out of here. Once he was free, he could do whatever he wanted. Including making his so called family pay for what they'd done. Or more precisely, what they hadn't done.


	18. Paranoia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: There is a mention of anti-psychotics causing a psychotic episode in this chapter, which I have been informed by a reader is a myth. While the story will not be changed, I am including this note so others are made aware as well.

After the "intervention", Klaus avoided his sisters and brothers as much as possible. He had to play along for the time being. He gave the appearance of being broken in both will and spirit. He was submissive, he didn't argue, he did everything that was asked of him. It was ironic. He couldn't physically die, but inside, he was dead all the same. 

Those dark feelings didn't go away, if anything, they intensified. Klaus couldn't bury them anymore, or numb them with drugs and alcohol. He was still wounded emotionally, and no one was there to help him. Not that he'd rely on anyone for that, not now. He wouldn't allow himself to cry or vent his spleen He could feel a rage building inside, from every death, each abandonment, and all the missed opportunities his siblings had carelessly passed by. 

Soon, he wasn't the same Klaus anymore. And that was just fine with him. The old Klaus was a useless clown, and far too soft. He didn't want to be him anymore. He wanted to be strong, independent. And above all, to be able to stand against them when the time came. 

After a few months, they stopped giving him injections. Why would they need to sedate someone who was so clearly broken? The pills stopped after his siblings had seen the video, and Klaus found out he'd been given an anti-psychotic. Klaus wasn't a doctor, but he knew enough that anti-psychotics made those who weren't psychotic go, well, psychotic. 

Klaus trained morning, noon, and night. He took it more seriously now that he had hatched his plan. He watched his siblings and how they fought and used their powers, taking a mental catalog of it. He would need the information later. He didn't dare write anything down for fear someone would find it. 

He was still murdered every two weeks. Sir Reginald was having difficulty coming up with new deaths, as Klaus seemed to bounce back from everything. His pain tolerance was going way up, so it didn't hurt as much as it once did. It wasn't much of an advantage, but it was still something. He kept it to himself. They had no right to know anything about him, not anymore. 

And more often than not, when Klaus died, the Break Room was empty. Perhaps God and the Devil had grown weary of him. That seemed to be the case with his family as well. Ever since they discovered his "relapse" his siblings only spoke to him with vague annoyance or downright disdain. Except for Vanya and Ben, who gave him the occasional worried glance. 

He didn't smile anymore, he didn't talk, he was turning into a shell of his former self. But not in his mind. There, he waited, and he planned. He would use what little time he had to himself to perfect his mindreading abilities. He practiced on his siblings, wanting to know everything they knew. He didn't trust them, and he wanted advanced notice if they were going to fuck him over again.

It was only a matter of time, after all. Look how easy it had been to convince them he had relapsed. That Sir Reginald would never do something so heinous as burn his own son. They turned on him so fast it made Klaus's head spin. They were so wrapped up in their own trauma and squabbling they rarely if ever thought of each other. Vain and selfish, all of them. They never considered others might be in pain, too. They certainly didn't think of him. And when they did, those thoughts could sometimes sting. 

For example, one morning, Diego and Klaus had been paired off to spar. He could hear Diego's inner monologue as he looked at Klaus. 

_'What a waste of space. Useless junkie.'_

That hurt, but he'd show him. Klaus fell into a defensive stance, letting Diego come to him. He knew what to do. Klaus dodged every punch, every kick, and every jab. Diego couldn't lay a hand on him. The more he failed, the more frustrated he got. Until finally, he pulled a knife he'd been hiding on his person (because Diego was always armed) and threw it at Klaus. And something quite surprising happened. 

Klaus threw his hands up to shield his face, knowing he wouldn't be able to duck in time to avoid it. Then he heard a whispered, "Holy shit." 

He moved his hands away to see the knife was stopped in mid-air, floating harmlessly. Klaus could see Diego was still trying to affect the weapon, his own hands held out to push it forward. He might as well have been pushing against a mountain. Klaus flicked his fingers, and the knife went flying backward and embedded itself into the wall next to Five's head, making him jump and then stare at Klaus in surprise. 

Diego was glaring at him, he never could handle being second best. Maybe that's why he'd always be Number Two, no matter what he said about "Team Zero". His thoughts were a tangle of anger and shame, and Klaus was sure Diego would try to get him back for this. A quick read of his siblings' minds revealed confusion and just the tiniest bit of fear. Good. They should be afraid of him. 

Sir Reginald strode forward and said, "Enough. Number Four, follow me." 

Klaus didn't say anything, but a parting glance at Allison and Luther exchanging worried looks almost made him smile. He kept his expression blank. He wouldn't give them anything. Let them worry. He'd have to play his cards close to the vest if he wanted to get out of here. Still, a small demonstration couldn't hurt.

When they were in Sir Reginald's office, the door closed and Sir Reginald behind his desk, he was giving Klaus a considering look. "How long have you been able to use telekinesis."

"This is the first time," Klaus replied in a monotone. 

"I see. Have you manifested any other abilities?" Sir Reginald had his journal open and was writing. Of course he was. His experiment had done something interesting. He'd have to record the results. 

"No, sir," Klaus said. 

"Number Five believes you possess telepathy as well," Sir Reginald said. 

"Was that before or after he helped you frame me?" 

Sir Reginald looked up, a frown on his face. "I will not tolerate insolence." 

"My apologies, sir," he said. "I only meant, that in his desire to prevent the apocalypse, Number Five may have made a mistake. I'd be willing to submit to testing though." 

At that, Sir Reginald folded his hands over his journal and leaned forward. "What makes you say he may be mistaken?" 

"He's unstable. His time alone in the apocalypse and the added stress of time travel before he was ready likely affected his mind," Klaus said. "You should ask him about Delores." 

"Who is Delores?" 

"Ask him, or Luther."

Sir Reginald seemed to consider this. Klaus was certain that he knew he was lying. How else to explain how he'd been able to avoid all of Diego's blows? But if he was going to get out of here, he'd have to make sure that they trusted each other about as much as Klaus trusted them. 

"And why do you choose to bring this to my attention now?" 

Klaus had to keep from smiling. "I kept it to myself out of a misguided sense of protecting him." 

"You feel no such compunction now." It wasn't a question.

"No, sir."

"I see." Sir Reginald then went back to his journal, writing. "You're dismissed. We will discuss your new training regimen tomorrow." 

"Of course."

Klaus left the office, carefully scanning to see if any of his siblings were nearby. He caught Diego's thoughts by the back staircase. Likely waiting for him. Klaus could have left it. He very well should have. Instead, he headed for the stairs. 

Diego grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the wall. "What do you think you're doing?" He hissed.

"Going to my room?" Klaus offered. 

"I mean today! You could have killed Five!" Diego said. 

"But I didn't," he replied. 

"How did you do that?" 

Klaus put a hand over Diego's, touching it gently, which confused his brother momentarily. Klaus slipped his fingers around the nerve between Diego's thumb and palm and pinched as hard as he could. Diego cried out from the pain, and Klaus shoved him away. He felt something in the hollow cave of his chest, where his heart used to be. Not pleasure, he didn't enjoy hurting anyone. But there was satisfaction there, no doubt about it. 

"Maybe I'm not a waste of space after all," Klaus told him coldly, and he climbed the steps.

"What's wrong with you?" Diego asked, holding his hand close to his chest and staring at Klaus in bewilderment.

Klaus turned around once he reached the top of the staircase. "What do you care? I'm just a useless junkie." He didn't wait for an answer, he went to his room. The horrified look on Diego's face almost made him smile. Almost. 

Once in his space, the door secured, Klaus held his hands out and closed his eyes. He reached out with his powers, finding any nearby ghosts and calling them to him. When his eyes opened, it was to see four lost souls, each more pitiful looking than the last. "Guard the door," he said. "If anyone tries to come in, stop them."

The ghosts nodded. Two walked through the door, while the other two remained in the room with him, in case Five got any ideas. Klaus took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Now for today's task. He closed his eyes, letting himself see through the ghosts. 

Diego walked past, looking at his door, and Klaus latched onto his mind, following him. _'Jesus, what the fuck's gotten into him? Is Five right? Can he read minds?'_

Then when Diego passed Allison, Klaus jumped to her. _'Still can't believe it. Who knew he had that kind of power? Is that what he was afraid of?'_

Klaus frowned, wondering who she was referring to. Did she mean what Klaus was afraid of, or someone else? But her thoughts had moved on, he wouldn't get any more from her. He kept his breathing steady, a telepathic net around his room and the hallway outside. It would be the only warning he would get if they decided to burst in. He couldn't have that. 

He then went inside his own head, detailing the day's events to himself, and altering the plan as needed. That's all that mattered now. The plan.


	19. Grief

"He's dead."

Klaus stood there, unable to speak or even move. How was this possible? Yes, he had been angry, he still was. And he'd accepted he may need to kill to escape. But this, he wasn't expecting this. There were echoes of past grief, he wasn't letting himself feel them now. 

"How did he die?" Allison asked, teary-eyed. 

"An accident," said Pogo, who looked just as sad. "Master Ben was coming down the stairs and lost his footing. Your mother did everything she could. I'm sorry."

"This is bullshit," Diego said, getting to his feet. 

"Diego, calm down," said Vanya.

But he didn't. Instead, he turned to Klaus and said, "Bring him back." 

Everyone turned to stare at him. Klaus let their thoughts wash over him. Mostly about Ben, all of them mourning his loss. But now, Diego's request made them hopeful. Yes, Ben was dead. He didn't have to stay that way. He almost said no, but then he reminded himself he was supposed to play nice, at least for now. Klaus closed his eyes and curled his hands into fists. 

When he opened them, Ben was nowhere to be seen. Klaus frowned. He should have been able to summon Ben almost immediately. He shook his head and said, "He's not here." 

"What?" Diego asked.

"I said he's not here," Klaus replied. "He might have moved on already."

"You're lying," said Diego. "You've lied before! You told us in Dallas he didn't make it but he was there the whole time!"

In response, Klaus waved his hand and made every ghost in the room visible. There were about fifty of them, each lost in their own little world of pain. Wandering around, crying out for help. He could hear the bewildered and in some cases terrified thoughts of his siblings as they watched the phantoms move about the room. 

"Do you see Ben anywhere?" Klaus asked, knowing the answer already. 

Diego was giving him a dirty look. He stormed out of the room. Vanya was on his heels, probably to make peace between the brothers. Which of course was futile, Klaus wasn't interested and Diego wasn't sorry. Klaus waded through the spirits himself and moved to leave the room. 

Luther called, "Can you get rid of them?"

"Say please," Klaus replied, turning around and crossing his arms over his chest. 

Allison and Five exchanged worried looks. Pogo was watching him, though whether the sadness on his face was because of Klaus's actions or Ben's sudden demise, it was hard to say. 

Luther was frowning. "Just get rid of them."

"Shan't do it if you don't say please," Klaus said in a sing-song voice. 

"Why you--" Luther started but Five cut him off.

"That's enough. Klaus, please, turn off the ghosts." 

Klaus waved his hand again, and the ghosts vanished from sight. "Manners matter," Klaus said to Luther, then left the room.

He heard his brother think, _'It's like he doesn't even care that Ben is dead.'_

As he thought about it, he realized that no, he didn't. People live, people die. Except for Klaus, of course. The only thing he felt was the tiniest bit of regret. That he'd let himself be torn apart by the Horror to save Ben. That seemed pretty pointless now. Klaus wishes he hadn't done it. Then Luther and the others wouldn't know he was immortal, and maybe he could have saved himself some pain.

There was also jealousy. Ben's pain was over. He'd never have to worry about the Horror again. He'd never have to be afraid of their father again. He could just be Ben. Up in heaven, probably with Dave. Maybe Klaus would get to see him in the Break Room sometime.

When Klaus opened the door to his room, however, it was to see Ben sitting on his bed. He looked confused. Klaus was too. Why in the hell hadn't Ben come when he called?

"Uh, hey," Klaus said. 

"Dad killed me," Ben said, looking up at him.

Klaus stared at Ben, not sure he heard him right. "He what now?"

"Murdered me!" Ben yelled, getting to his feet. "I found out the truth and he fucking killed me!" 

"Okay, sit back down, tell me all about it," said Klaus. He then snapped his fingers. "Wait one moment." Klaus called the four ghosts he'd been using as his guards and gave them the same instructions as always. No one is to enter. They nodded and went to their posts.

"Woah," said Ben, looking at Klaus in amazement. "Is this what you've been up to?"

"Yeah," Klaus replied. They sat on the bed together and Klaus turned his attention to his now dead brother. "What happened?" 

Ben wouldn't look at him for a moment, but then he said, "I was worried about you. You've been weird since Diego said you were on drugs again. Though if I'm honest with myself you'd been weird before that. I decided to look into it. I didn't tell the others because they were so certain it was just you being a dick about getting busted."

"How'd you figure it out?" Klaus asked. 

"You told us about the lab, remember?" Ben pointed out. "I figure, Dad's a scientist. He's going to want to record whatever it is he's doing to you. So I went looking for the recordings."

Klaus suddenly felt very stupid for not thinking of it first. "What did you find?"

Ben's voice broke. "Everything. Dad was keeping them in his office. He has all these tapes... I couldn't watch them all. But I found the one where he burned you. I was going to take it to show the others."

"But he caught you," Klaus said. 

"He did. Then he said something about correcting a mistake and he pushed me down the stairs," Ben replied. 

"Does Pogo know?" 

Ben nodded. "Yeah."

"Why didn't you come when I called you?" Klaus asked. 

"I don't want Dad to know I'm still here," he said. "They'd tell him right away. Then who knows what he'll do. And..." Ben took a deep breath and exhaled. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you."

Klaus should have felt something. Relief, or maybe validation. Finally, one of his siblings believed him. Unfortunately, he was dead. Even worse he was so afraid of Dad he wouldn't manifest in front of their remaining brothers and sisters. Instead, his rage took this new information and used it as fuel for the fire.

"You can start making it up to me right now," Klaus said. 

"How?" Ben asked.

"I'm going to escape," Klaus replied. "I'm getting out of here. Soon, actually. Another two weeks should do it."

"You can't."

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Dad implanted a tracker in you. I'm not sure when but he did," he said in a quiet voice. 

"How do you know?"

"It's in his notes. They were with the tapes." 

"Do you know where?"

Ben pointed at Klaus's right side. "Somewhere in there." 

"Hm, that's going to be an issue." Klaus got off the bed and settled in the center of his room, saying, "I'll need to alter the plan."

His brother got off the bed and sat across from him. "How can I help?"

"I'm going to use all the ghosts in the neighborhood to keep the Academy busy while I get out."

"You're not going to hurt anyone, right?" 

"I will if I have to." Klaus tilted his head, then said, "If that bothers you, you're really not going to like the rest of this conversation." 

"Klaus! You can't do that!" Ben said. "They're our family!"

"Adopted," said Klaus. "And they're not my family, not anymore."

"Just talk to them. I'll go with you, I can vouch for you, tell them you've been telling the truth," Ben pleaded.

"Wow, Dad should have killed you sooner. Like, before the frame job would have been convenient."

Ben sighed, but now he sounded more tired than upset. "Klaus, give them another chance. They'd do it for you." 

"But they've had their chance. More than one, actually. They don't care about me, Ben. I doubt they ever have," Klaus replied. "Look at Five. That fucking prick is how I ended up getting torched in the first place! Then he didn't just let Reggie frame me, he helped!"

"They're not all like that though!" Ben insisted. "They'll listen to you now. I'm sure of it. And if not, I'll make them listen." 

Klaus snorted. "No, they won't." He held out his hand. "I'll show you."

Ben frowned, but he took Klaus's hand. So easy to tap into Ben's mind now, and share his own thoughts. Ben would be able to see and hear what Klaus did. 

Diego was in the gym, beating up a punching bag and blaming Klaus for Ben's death. He railed against how unfair it was, that Klaus was immortal and not Ben. It was like he'd forgotten Klaus let himself be torn apart by the Horror to save their brother. He probably had. Diego had a short memory for favors and a long one for grudges. 

Vanya was in the library, crying and thinking about how much she would miss Ben. Also, she felt guilty she killed the ghost version of Ben previously. That guilt was compounded as she was secretly glad he wouldn't be haunting anyone.

Five was in one of the classrooms going over his doomsday calculations. He was adjusting the math since Ben wouldn't be around to help stop the apocalypse after all. Not even a spare thought to what the rest of his family must be going through. 

Allison was in her room, thinking about the family breaking apart again because Ben died. And how scared she was of Klaus. That he had the power to call so many spirits at one time like it was nothing. Then her thoughts turned to Ben again and she cried. 

Lastly was Luther, who was in the kitchen with Mom. She was making him cookies, and his thoughts actually surprised Klaus. He was thinking about how to make Klaus pay for being so flippant. Luther justified it to himself as putting Klaus in his place and punishing him for not caring about Ben's death. 

That really wasn't like him at all. Luther seemed to realize this on his own and was overcome with shame. The shame turned to sorrow when he thought about Ben.

When Klaus pulled back he could hear the conflict in Ben's head. "Are they always like that?" He asked.

"'Fraid so. You know, I used to think the only reason they liked you so much was that you died young," Klaus said. They'd been in the Academy for years at this point, they were adults for fuck's sake and still wore their stupid school uniforms. "I was wrong. They still love you. They'll always love you." 

Ben sighed, then met Klaus's eyes. "I'll help you get out. But on one condition."

"Which is?"

"Don't kill anyone."

"Sure," Klaus said. 

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Klaus held his hand out for Ben to shake. He hid his other hand behind his back and crossed his fingers.


	20. Field Medicine

Well, they hadn't killed anyone. But Five was hurt pretty badly and Klaus was sure Ben was still mad at him for it. As far as Klaus was concerned, every injury inflicted was well deserved. 

Klaus had his own wounds to tend to. When Sir Reginald said to stop Klaus, his siblings hadn't been fucking around. Klaus made sure to knock Allison out first, he didn't want any rumors coming his way. The rest... Well, it had been a hell of a fight. Klaus now had bruises everywhere, and a stab wound care of Diego. 

"This is a bad idea," said Ben.

"It's either this or a hospital and I can't risk a hospital," Klaus replied. He had a scalpel and Sir Reginald's notes. Stolen for him courtesy of Ben. He also had the tape of his fiery death, which was sitting on the table.

"That's going to hurt. We could at least get you something. A local anesthetic maybe?"

"Don't worry about it," Klaus said. 

According to what Sir Reginald had in his notes, the tracker was implanted in his right side just above his hip. He had indeed gotten the idea from Five, as the little shit had told Reginald about the Commission and their tracking implants. All the kids had one, so it was nice that Klaus wasn't singled out. 

Currently, Klaus, Ben, and a few other spirits were holed up in the old abandoned warehouse. The one he'd been left to die at by Luther. Klaus knew that the rest of the Academy would track him there. The stupid implant would be waiting, along with a few other goodies.

He just had to get it out.

"This is stupid," Ben said.

"Would you shut up?" Klaus snapped. He'd removed his shirt and was trying to steady his breathing. "I need to concentrate." He took a deep breath, then used the scalpel to make an incision. It hurt, but after everything that was done to him, he barely felt it. Klaus made the incision long enough he could reach his fingers in and search. Thankfully, it wasn't far from the surface. 

He pulled out a small disk with a little red light blinking on the back. The front had the Umbrella Academy emblem. It was slick with blood, and he dropped it on the table next to the discarded scalpel. Some of the blood splattered, which was almost poetic. 

"Now what?" Ben asked.

"Now comes the sucky part," said Klaus. 

He tended his own injuries using what little medical knowledge he had. He used a high proof vodka as a disinfectant which was exactly as fun as it sounded. Sewing himself back together after cutting himself open was not easy. Neither was wrapping his wounds. But once he got the last of the blood washed off his hands, he was good as new.

Klaus had the ghosts surrounding the warehouse, and thankfully nothing had happened yet. If they were coming for him, they were taking their sweet time about it. Klaus got changed into his new clothes. A black three-piece suit, no shirt under the vest, the blazer long enough to reach his knees. Not the most outlandish outfit but he liked the style. 

"Where did you get those clothes, anyway?" Ben asked. 

"I've been planning this for over a year," Klaus replied. "I've made all the arrangements I need to start a new life. We just have one little errand to run then I'm off to Los Angeles." 

"Why Los Angeles?"

Klaus shrugged. "Seemed as good a place as any." 

He then folded the uniform and placed it on the table with the videotape, the tracker, and a letter which he put on top of the uniform.

"What's it say?" Ben asked.

"Hm?" Klaus responded. "Oh, this? It's more the airing of grievances than anything." 

"What grievances?"

Klaus picked up the letter and read it aloud for Ben.

"To the Umbrella Academy, 

"It is my sad duty to inform you that Sir Reginald Hargreeves is responsible for the death of Benjamin Hargreeves. Pogo had a hand in covering up Ben's murder. If you wish to question Pogo, I recommend Allison rumor him first as he is not likely to be truthful. 

"It is also my duty to inform you that Number Five has been lying to you. Not only did he orchestrate my death by fire, but he also assisted in the frame job that resulted in my further incarceration. Again, you may need to rumor him to get the truth. Or you can find out the same way Ben did and watch the tape.

"That's why Ben's dead. He found out the truth and Sir Reginald killed him. 

"This is also to put you on notice that I officially resign from the Umbrella Academy. If I ever see any of you again, I'll kill you. And if you think I'm being harsh, maybe watch the other tapes that Sir Reginald has hidden away. 

"We are not family, we are enemies from here on out.

"Sincerely,

"The Séance." 

Ben was giving Klaus a worried look. "You don't mean it."

"I mean every word," Klaus replied and put the letter back on the table. 

"Klaus, you're scaring me," Ben said. 

"Good." 

"This isn't like you."

"Maybe it wasn't before, but it is now." Klaus headed for the door, adding, "You can stay or you can leave. I don't care either way." 

Much to Klaus's surprise, Ben followed him out of the warehouse. "I'm not letting you turn to the dark side."

"Too late for that."

"No, it isn't. You could have killed them all back there, but you didn't. You chose to spare them. There must be part of you that still cares."

Klaus knew Ben was right. He could have murdered them in their sleep and gotten away scot-free. Instead, he'd faked sick and tried to sneak out while everyone was at dinner. He'd been caught, and that was when Klaus had fought back. He called dozens of ghosts, perhaps even a hundred, and made them fight for him. 

Ben had been among them, and the look on Diego's face when he saw Ben's ghost was fierce. That was when he threw a knife straight at Klaus, stabbing him in the arm. Klaus pulled it out and gave it to one of his guards, who threw the knife back and hit Luther. 

Five had gotten the closest, blinking in and out before the ghosts could stop him. "Why?" He'd demanded. 

Klaus had smiled at him and asked, "Why not?" He then reached out with his telekinetic power, grabbing Five's legs and twisting until he heard something crunch and Five screamed in pain. Klaus then lifted Five with his mind and threw him at Vanya, knocking her to the ground. 

Once the ghosts had overpowered the others, Klaus had left the Academy, this time for good. He stole a motorcycle and made his way to the warehouse, where they currently were. 

"So how do you propose we get out of here?" Ben asked. 

"Just wait."

They walked to a side road, the same on Klaus had traveled to get home the first time. He was pleased to see the truck was coming into view, and Klaus waved when he saw it. He'd remembered the piano movers took this route daily, and around the same time each night. 

The truck slowed, and the man in the passenger seat said, "Hey, ain't you that Umbrella kid?"

"I was," he replied with the most charming smile he could muster. "I got a little lost, could I hitch a ride with you?"

"Yeah, get in the back," the driver said. 

"Same place as last time?" The passenger asked. 

"No, I've moved out," Klaus told him. "I'm not a kid anymore. Can you take me to the Olympus Building?"

"Sure thing."

Klaus smiled to himself as he climbed into the bed of the truck. Ben was already waiting, frowning at Klaus. 

"Olympus? Klaus, that place is owned by the Perseus Corporation. They're bad news," he said.

"Like Dad isn't. I've got an in, don't worry about it," he said.

"Don't worry about it?! Did you forget what John Perseus did to Diego?!"

"Tried to do, if I remember correctly. Diego killed him." 

Klaus ignored Ben for the rest of the ride. He kept his telepathic net extended around the truck, but didn't hear anything aside from the two brothers in the cab. As they returned to the city he started to relax. They wouldn't look for him so close to home. And they certainly wouldn't look for him at Olympus. 

When he was dropped off, he thanked the piano movers and went inside, the door held open by a man in a rather fantastic red uniform. The lobby was done in marble, with soft lighting that gave it an almost heavenly glow. And walking up to him was John Perseus X, smiling and offering Klaus a hand.

"Mr. Hargreeves, so kind of you to join us," he said. 

"Mr. Perseus," he replied, shaking his hand. "I don't use that name anymore."

"Of course. The Séance, isn't it?"

"The Séance it is."

"Please, follow me."

They boarded the elevator and went upstairs. When they reached the top floor, the doors opened to a luxurious penthouse with a gorgeous view of the city. A man in a dark suit was waiting for them. Klaus reached out but couldn't find any thoughts to speak of. A robot, just as lifelike as Grace. Interesting. There were also two attorneys standing by, and a paralegal setting up a video camera in the living room.

"Something to drink?" Perseus asked.

"Thank you, but no," Klaus said. "I'd rather get straight down to business."

"As you say," he replied. 

They sat in the living room, Klaus on one sofa, Perseus on the other. The lawyers scattered about and the paralegal manning the camera. There was a golden briefcase on the coffee table, and Perseus pushed it toward Klaus. 

"It's all there," he said. "Do you wish to count it?"

"Perhaps later," Klaus said. "How long do you want him for?" 

"An hour, at least. There's a particular issue with my inheritance that's popped up only he can solve." 

"John Perseus IX, correct?"

"Yes." 

Klaus smirked. "Okay, let's get to work."


	21. Infection

Klaus found himself liking Los Angeles. He especially liked that no one knew him there. The Umbrella Academy was really more of an East Coast thing, in LA he was just Klaus. The only people who knew about his powers were the people who paid oodles of cash for him to raise the dead. He was making the kind of money that most people would kill for.

Though, he wasn't having an easy time of things at the moment. Unfortunately Ben the fucking know it all had been right about performing surgery on himself. Now Klaus had some kind of infection, and he was too afraid to go to a hospital or see a doctor. Yes, he was an adult, he was old enough to rent a car for fuck's sake. But Klaus had learned an important lesson under Sir Reginald's roof.

Money talks, and the kind of money Sir Reginald had talked loudly. 

"You have to see a real doctor," Ben said.

"It's fine," said Klaus, looking at the angry red skin around the cut. The stitches had been removed but it didn't look good. He could see little red lines moving out from the wound. And as he tried cleaning it he was pretty sure he saw pus. 

"I'm serious, you could die."

"Oh no, whatever shall I do?" Klaus scoffed, then pulled his shirt on. "Come on, let's go and wait for nice Mr. Collins so we can summon his dead wife."

Ben shook his head and followed Klaus into the living room. Their current residence was the presidential suite of a very swanky hotel on Sunset. Courtesy of the bereaved Mr. Collins. Klaus flopped on the couch and turned on the television, flicking through channels, until a news story caught his attention.

"And in a shocking turn of events, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, famed inventor, Olympic Gold medalist, and eccentric billionaire, was arrested this morning," said a smiling news anchor. "Kati Kari has more on this story."

"What?!" Klaus and Ben said in unison.

Klaus turned up the volume. A blonde woman in a pink suit appeared on the screen, face grim. "Thank you, James. It started with an anonymous tip to the police about the death of Benjamin Hargreeves only one month ago. That tip, along with surveillance footage, allegedly show Sir Reginald Hargreeves pushing his adopted son down a flight of stairs. It also allegedly shows that the chimpanzee turned butler by the name of Pogo helped disguise the crime. Both have been taken into custody." 

Footage showed Sir Reginald, in handcuffs, being led through a mob of reporters, along with Pogo. There was more, about allegations for years that something wasn't right at the Academy. Then the reporter said, "At a press conference earlier today, the current head of the Umbrella Academy issued a statement."

There was Luther, in all his glory as Number One, wearing a suit and standing behind a podium. Allison, Vanya, and Diego were behind him. Five was notably absent. 

"We are both shocked and saddened by the loss of one of our own," Luther said. "Ben was not just our brother in arms, but a brother. We are still trying to process this sad turn of events, and request privacy at this time."

"What does this mean for the Umbrella Academy going forward?" One reporter asked. 

"We don't know yet," Luther said. "We will issue a statement once a decision is made."

"Is it true that Sir Reginald also killed your other brothers?" Asked another.

"Not at all," he replied.

"Then how do you explain the disappearances of Number Four and Number Five?" Another reporter inquired.

Luther shook his head. "Number Five is not dead, nor is he missing. He was injured earlier this week in a training exercise and is recuperating. As for Number Four, he has left the Umbrella Academy." 

That really set the reporters off. A flurry of questions about Klaus, where he was, if they had any proof he was still alive and not killed just like Ben. Which was kind of funny considering Klaus had been murdered. It just didn't stick. Luther was looking pretty uncomfortable, and the video ended there. 

"Still no word on the location of Klaus Hargreeves, however one source speaking on the condition of anonymity stated he allegedly defected from the Umbrella Academy shortly after the murder due to long term abuse. When contacted regarding his location or if he is also a suspect, the city police department had this to say. 'We cannot confirm or deny the location of Klaus Hargreeves. However, we can confirm he is not a suspect in his brother's death.'"

"I'm going to have to change my name," Klaus muttered. "Dye my hair or grow it out." He'd already started regrowing his goatee, now that he was out of the Academy and Sir Reginald couldn't annoy him about facial hair. 

"This is good though, right?" Ben asked.

Klaus frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Dad's in jail, Pogo too. You could go home," said Ben.

Klaus rolled his eyes and got up, heading for the bar. "It's not my home anymore and it hasn't been forever. The only reason I'd go back is to wreck the place like Vanya did. Back in the original timeline before all this bullshit."

"They're trying to get justice--" Ben started.

"For you," Klaus shot back, cutting him off. "They're getting justice for you. They don't give a damn about me." He slammed a glass down on the counter and dumped some ice in, before filling it with whisky. 

Ben was quiet, and Klaus was glad of it. He couldn't listen to any more of the lame excuses. He drank deeply, then winced. He wasn't feeling so hot. Actually, he was feeling a little too hot. It occurred to him Ben was right and he needed to see a doctor. Unfortunately, this thought came to him when his eyes rolled back into his head and he couldn't stand upright anymore.

When he opened his eyes and saw the Break Room, he sighed with annoyance. "Fucking really?"

"About time," said God. 

"Oh look who's suddenly in a chatty mood! Where have you been?" Klaus asked sourly.

She glared back at him. "I've been a little busy." 

"Riiiight," he replied and looked around. "Where's Beelzebub?"

"Samael isn't here," God said. "I wanted to speak to you alone."

Klaus sighed and gestured for her to go ahead. 

"You haven't turned out how I expected."

"That's it?" Klaus asked incredulously.

"Don't interrupt," She snapped.

He held up his hands as if to say 'my bad' and She continued speaking. 

"You were made for more than this. And here you are, squandering your gifts once again," said God. "What will it take for you to get back on the right path?"

"And what is the right path?" Klaus asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Staying sober and using your powers for the betterment of mankind." 

Klaus snorted. "Oh, so I shouldn't use my powers to get insanely rich and form connections in the criminal underworld? That would have been nice to know around, oh... Several years ago. You know I've already got Ben riding my ass about this I don't need you giving me shit too."

God was giving him a look. She wasn't angry, however, She appeared to be tired and... Sad? Was She sad? "Klaus... I know you've been through a lot. And I know you're in pain." 

"I'm okay aside from--" He started but She held up her hand.

"Mental and emotional pain. I've already agreed to accept you into my kingdom and I will keep my word," She said. "But if you continue down this path, I will have no choice but to imprison you once you are dead. I cannot let your darkness infect the souls here." 

"So basically because I decided to stand up for myself for once you're going to lock me up after I die?" Klaus asked.

"You're not though," She shot back. "You're taking advantage of the grief-stricken and you won't even grieve for yourself."

"What's there to grieve for?" This was getting ridiculous.

"For a better life and a lost love," God said. "Tell me the truth. Are you happy as you are?"

Klaus wanted to say yes, but he knew it wasn't true. His anger and the trauma of everything he'd been through was wrapped up in a nice little box and hidden away under a cloak of feigned indifference. However, there was a hole eaten through the box, and every day it got a little bit bigger. Soon, what was inside would escape, and Klaus didn't know what would happen then.

God knew this already, he could tell. "If you don't get yourself together, I will have to imprison you, and I don't want to do that," She said. Then God gestured for him to lean over, which he did. She took his face in his hands and asked, "Don't you want to see Dave again? Don't you want to spend your afterlife in peace, with him?" 

Klaus was about to respond, but the Break Room was fading out. As he woke up he said, "One of these days, I'm going to get the last word."

"Are you okay?"

Ben was standing over him, looking concerned. 

Klaus got up and lifted his shirt, looking at his side. The wound was still there, but the infection was gone. "Yeah, I'm great." 

Then there was a knock on the door. Klaus went to answer it, putting God and Her bullshit in the back of his mind. Mr. Collins gave him a smile as Klaus let him in, and got the ball rolling. It was a longer session than usual. Mrs. Collins had hidden some priceless jewel because her daughter wanted to kill her. Which, apparently, she did. It took forever for her to map out exactly where she'd hidden it. 

When they were wrapping up, Klaus asked, "Why did she want to kill you?" 

Mrs. Collins' ghost rolled her eyes. "Because I didn't believe her lies. I don't care if her coach really did hurt her, there's no excuse for weakness." 

When Klaus looked at Mr. Collins, he muttered, "Sandy's riding coach. She killed him, too." 

Klaus silently cheered for Sandy. 

Once Mr. Collins was gone and Mrs. Collins' ghost had left, Klaus flopped on the couch. Mr. Collins had just paid him a small fortune for that stupid rock, he should have been celebrating. Instead, Klaus thought about Dave. 

Would this really make it so he couldn't see him again? It chilled Klaus to the bone to think of it. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, and it was the thought of dying happily ever after with Dave. 

"Are you okay?" Ben asked.

Klaus rubbed at his eyes. "No," he admitted.


	22. Drugged

Klaus didn't stay in Los Angeles permanently. He ended up tweaking a few noses he shouldn't have. A lot of them, actually, over a period of several years. And rather than risk getting his kneecaps shot out he returned to the East Coast. Sadly, he did find himself back home, just not at the Academy. Klaus still had quite a bit of money hidden away, so he'd be able to live independently.

In all his time in LA, none of the team had tried to contact him. They still went on missions, saving the world and all. At one point Five rejoined them, and he finally hit his growth spurt. Klaus had been right, Five grew up to be hot. He didn't know the dynamic among them, but they were still known throughout the world as an elite superhero team. Beloved and adored by all. Well, except criminals and supervillains.

Klaus couldn't help keeping tabs on them. Both because he wanted to know what they were up to, and to make sure they were staying far away from him. 

Luther led some space expedition that meant they'd colonize Mars any day now. Diego was the "law enforcement liaison" whatever the hell that meant. Allison didn't become a movie star but she still had Claire. This time she and Patrick stayed together which wasn't that sweet? Five frequently took time off to lecture at universities about theoretical math or something like that. And Vanya was playing sold-out concerts every season with the orchestra, as first chair. 

The mystery of whatever happened to Klaus Hargreeves faded into obscurity, and he was glad of it. 

Originally he'd been worried someone might recognize him, but so far nothing. He'd dyed his hair black, let it grow out so it was a mess of curls, and often wore dark glasses indoors or out. He also wore exclusively black clothes, though after a few close calls he'd switched from suits to a leather jacket, jeans, boots, and a t-shirt. Klaus was kind of stealing Ben's look a little bit, but who'd call him out on it? Ben did occasionally, but not often.

Sometimes he'd stare at his blank palms and think about getting them tattooed again, but he decided to leave it so as not to attract attention. He'd even gotten his Umbrella Academy tattoo removed with laser surgery. A final fuck you to Sir Reginald Hargreeves, who was still in prison. Pogo had taken a deal and testified against him. Both were tight-lipped if anyone asked about Number Four. 

Sir Reginald would never see daylight again. It sure as fuck didn't make Klaus feel better or reduce his anger. Ben said he needed to see a therapist. Klaus refused repeatedly. Yes, he knew he needed to talk to someone. But he didn't want to risk the others finding him. Though it appeared they weren't looking, he wouldn't be surprised if they had ears everywhere. 

"You're being paranoid and stupid, it's going to get you into trouble someday," Ben said. 

The one thing that Klaus hated the most about Ben was how often he was right. And okay, yeah, the message from God probably should have gotten him to seek therapy or something. Instead, Klaus decided to drown his sorrows in alcohol. He wouldn't risk drugs, that would render him powerless. 

So, at a quiet bar on a random Thursday, Klaus was on drink number four of an epic bender. It wasn't the nicest place. Of course, it wasn't awful either, just not great. Actually, Klaus thinks it might have been the same bar he and the others found Luther in before they had to track down Allison. Klaus shuddered at the memory. 

Maybe a small part of him hoped Luther or one of his brothers or sisters would stroll in at any moment. But the rest of him was still wondering what the hell God meant. Using his powers for the betterment of mankind? Did she not know what his powers were? They weren't fucking useful at all! 

"Can we go?" Ben asked.

"No," Klaus replied, finishing his drink and contemplating getting another.

"How's getting drunk going to help?"

"It's helping me cope," he muttered. 

"Cope with what?" 

Klaus looked up to see a guy settling on the barstool next to him. He looked familiar, but Klaus couldn't recall where he'd seen him before. He was on the short side, with dark hair, brown eyes, and pale skin. He gave Klaus a smile and said, "Sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop, though... Are you with someone?" He looked around Klaus, confused. 

"Nope, just talking to myself," Klaus replied.

"You jerk," Ben muttered. 

The bartender approached, and the guy said, "I'll have a beer, and whatever he's having, I'm buying."

"Oh, thank you," Klaus said with a smile. 

"Not at all. I'm Leonard, by the way," he said, offering a hand to shake.

Klaus took it and said, "Nikola." It wasn't the most original alias, but it worked for him. 

"Nice to meet you," said Leonard. The bartender brought their drinks, and he handed Klaus his. "So what's a guy like you doing in a place like this?"

He snorted. "Drinking myself to death, or trying to anyway. What about you?"

"I have a store around the corner, I like to come here sometimes after work when I don't feel like going home right away," Leonard replied. 

"That sounds nice," Klaus said. "Though doesn't your wife worry?"

"She would if I had one," Leonard said and chuckled.

Klaus chuckled too. "Aha, a single man about town huh?"

"Yep, that's me. How about you?" 

Klaus almost said no. But then he remembered Dave was dead. It stung more than he thought it would. Klaus had slept around in LA. It was a second chance at punching his V card and he wanted to do it right. Though it hadn't been the romantic or wonderful experience Klaus had expected. Nobody compared to Dave, and it made Klaus bitter and lonely. Nowadays he kept it to one night stands as he was too afraid to get close to anyone. Not after what he'd been through.

But Leonard... He wasn't hot or even particularly good looking. But he seemed nice with a real boy next door energy about him. And fuck, he was lonely. So Klaus said, "Shockingly single."

"I'd say I'm sorry to hear it, but not if it means I might get your number," Leonard said with a smile.

"If you're extra nice to me I might go home with you," Klaus replied. 

Ben groaned. "Oh my God. If you're going to be disgusting I'm leaving." 

Klaus ignored him. He and Leonard talked, though they didn't appear to have much in common. Except that when Klaus asked about Leonard's family, he dummied up. Klaus understood and said he wasn't close to his relatives either. 

He wasn't sure how much he'd had to drink. But after a while, he was beginning to feel a bit woozy. He blinked his eyes several times and shook his head to clear it. 

"You okay?" Leonard asked. 

"Yeah just... Think I hit my limit," Klaus said. 

"Klaus!" Ben yelled. 

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Leonard asked.

He shrugged. "Sure, why not?" 

"Klaus! For fuck's sake, listen to me!" Shouted Ben.

"Shut up," Klaus snapped.

"What?" 

"Not you, Leonard." 

They got up and Klaus nearly laughed. Leonard was shorter than Klaus was anticipating. But short guys didn't like being laughed at, so Klaus kept it to himself. Once they were out of the bar, Klaus was leaning on Leonard as they walked up the street. He was looking around and said, "I... Am not sure where I live." 

"You can come over to my place if you want."

"Yeah, that'd be great."

"Don't do it," Ben said. "Please, Klaus!" 

Klaus turned to glare at him, exasperated. "Why not?"

"He put something in your drink! He's--Look out!" 

A hand clapped over Klaus's mouth, keeping him from screaming. And that was the last thing he remembered.

When he woke up, Ben was standing over him. "Oh thank God," Ben said. 

"Hey, Ben," Klaus said, sitting up. "Fuck, my head." He lifted his hand but found it was caught on something. He turned his head and saw he was in lying on a bed with an old-fashioned metal frame, and he was handcuffed to it. 

"Where the hell am I?" Klaus asked. 

"Leonard's house, in the attic," Ben said. "Klaus, this guy's a stalker or something. He's got action figures of us with our faces burned off and like, a shrine dedicated to Dad."

"Aw fuck, Leonard," he said. "I knew I'd seen him somewhere before."

"You know him?"

"Yeah, he like... Seduced Vanya in the other timeline and turned her against us," Klaus said. Fuck he was dizzy. "Which if that's what he's planning to do to me he's too fucking late."

Ben frowned. "What do you mean turned her against you?"

Klaus tilted his head. "We ignored her growing up and when she found out she had powers and had been left alone because of Dad she went ballistic and tried to kill everyone. Didn't they tell you that?"

"No," he replied and sat on the bed next to Klaus. "I mean... Vanya? She's so sweet."

"Sweet people can be pushed too far," he said then collapsed back against the bed. "So where is the serial killer turned kidnapper?"

"Serial killer?!"

"Okay, he killed like, two people so I dunno if that counts."

"He left an hour ago."

"Great. Should be enough time to bust out." Klaus tried to concentrate on the handcuffs, so he could break them with his mind. But something was wrong. "I can't use my powers."

"He injected you with something before he left," Ben said. "You'll probably have to wait until whatever it is gets out of your system.

"Oh goody," Klaus said.


	23. Sleep Deprivation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I know this is a little late and a bit shorter than usual but it was my last day at work today and I've got the move coming up this week. So I may be posting a little later or posting some days together, it depends on what happens. Thank you everyone for reading and all the comments so far, I really appreciate it.

So Leonard... Or sorry, Harold Jenkins, was a jerk. 

A massive jerk.

When he came back, he smiled and said, "You know, it's so weird. I used to collect pictures of you when you were in the Umbrella Academy. You look completely different now." 

"That was the plan," Klaus replied. "Also, not in the Umbrella Academy anymore. How about we just chalk this up to a bit of hanky panky and go our separate ways?" 

"I can't do that," he replied. 

Klaus sighed. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this but I know you've got beef with the Academy. I don't know why, but you do. If you're trying to hurt them through me? You're wasting your time. We haven't seen each other in years." 

He raised an eyebrow. "I should up the dosage if you can still use your mind-reading powers."

"You know about those?" Klaus asked with surprise. "Wait, I don't care. I'm not reading your mind. Look, we've met before. But it was literally another time, and you were trying to kill us. Which okay, I didn't understand at the time but I sure do now."

"Klaus!" Ben scolded, which Klaus ignored.

Harold laughed. "He told me you're funny."

"He?" Klaus asked.

"Sir Reginald. He says hi, by the way," Harold replied. 

"How do you know Sir Reginald?" 

"Prison. See, I was born the same day as the rest of you. And I always thought, I must be one of you, I just couldn't figure out what my power was," Harold explained. "And growing up without a Dad is hard. My father died in a car accident on the way to the hospital while my mother was giving birth. I never knew him. And she blamed me."

Klaus frowned. "Why would she blame you for something that clearly wasn't your fault?" 

"Because if she wasn't in labor with me, he wouldn't be dead. Weird reasoning, right?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I thought so too. And you know, she never really got over his death. She used to smack me around pretty bad. I used to think, maybe someday the Umbrella Academy will save me, and I can go and live with them," Harold said, a wistful tone in his voice. 

"I'm guessing that didn't happen," Klaus said.

"Not at all. Then one night, she said she was going to burn my face off with an iron, and I decided I'd have to save myself," he said.

"So you killed your mom," said Klaus. "Good for you. Hey if I give you twenty bucks you wanna off my dad for me?"

"Why would I want to hurt the man who looked after me?" Harold asked. 

That made Klaus raise an eyebrow. "Say what now?" 

"I was in juvenile detention, then they transferred me to an adult facility. I was alone a lot. I didn't join any of the gangs so I was an easy target. Then Sir Reginald showed up and took me under his wing. No one messed with me after that," he said fondly.

"...Were you my dad's prison wife?" Klaus asked. 

Harold scoffed. "Jeez, no. What's the matter with you?"

"So many things." 

"No, he taught me everything I needed to know. He taught me all about you, and the others," he said. 

"So you can join the Academy or something?" 

"I'm going to stop the Academy," Harold said, smiling. 

Klaus blinked. "Stop them from doing what?"

"Destroying the world. See, he figured it out. Sir Reginald always thought the Umbrella Academy would protect the world and stop the apocalypse. Then when he was put away, he realized they were the catalyst. Everyone in the Umbrella Academy has their role in causing the apocalypse, including you."

"I'm not _in_ the Academy anymore!" Klaus said. "I don't want anything to do with them." 

Harold snorted. "You'd go back for them if they were in real danger."

"Would I? Did dear old Dad not let you in on the secret?" 

"Your immortality? Yeah, he told me."

Of course, he had. Fuck Reginald, that prick. "They didn't help me when I needed it. You can kill them all for all I fucking care." 

Harold shrugged. "You say that now, but we can't be too careful. I need information before I can make my move."

"Then you're definitely out of luck," Klaus laughed. 

"I'm not getting the information from you," Harold replied. 

"Then why kidnap me?" 

"You can't be killed, have to keep you out of the way," he pointed out. 

Klaus sighed. "So I'm stuck here until when?" 

At that, Harold smiled again. "Make yourself comfortable, Mr. Hargreeves. It's going to be a while."

"Don't call me that," he hissed in response.

And with that, Harold left. 

That had been a week ago, and since that time, some weird shit had happened. 

Harold made sure to visit every morning with food. He'd feed Klaus, and then he'd lead him downstairs to the bathroom. Klaus had hoped he could escape but there was no window and no way for him to get out. Then Harold would take him back upstairs and leave for the day. He'd come back and do the same thing in the evening, but with an added bonus.

Drugs. Not the sleepy opiates that Klaus had preferred, once upon a time. Now he was being given uppers, and Klaus always hated those. They scrambled his brain and made everything speed up by a thousand. The worst part was they didn't negate his powers (at least not the ghost seeing ones) and he wouldn't sleep.

"He knows I can't die from sleep deprivation right?" Klaus asked Ben one evening.

"I don't think it matters," Ben replied.

There were four other phantoms in the room, screaming at him and trying to get his attention. One was a woman in a housecoat with half her face burned off, and Klaus said, "Let me guess, you're Mrs. Jenkins?" 

"Damn right," she said, her words not forming correctly due to her burns.

"Is there anything we can use against him?" Ben asked.

"Not a chance, the little shit isn't even sorry he killed me," she replied.

Klaus wasn't surprised. If he'd ever gotten up the courage to kill Sir Reginald, he wouldn't have been sorry either. He groaned and tried pulling at the handcuffs again. Maybe they'd give after the eight hundredth time. Unfortunately, they were still pretty sturdy. 

More ghosts were coming, which meant hours upon hours of them screaming at Klaus. As though he could actually help them. He couldn't even help himself. The little attic room was getting pretty crowded. Every ghost within a ten-mile radius seemed to be coming through. 

"I'm so tired," Klaus said.

"I know, can you sleep?" Ben asked.

Klaus shook his head. "Not unless you can make them shut up."

"I've tried," said Ben. "I'm really sorry but they're ignoring me." 

That was when the wailing started. The shouting, the name-calling. Begging for help. Crying for justice. Screaming for revenge. He could hear them all, and Klaus couldn't even cover his ears because of the fucking handcuffs. He hadn't slept in days, not really. Sometimes he'd nod off in the daytime but it was rare. 

He was so tired. He'd kill for a decent night's sleep. Was that the plan? Wear Klaus out until he turned on his siblings? Stupid plan, he didn't give a shit about them. If they were on fire he wouldn't piss on them to put them out. 

"Shut up," Klaus hissed. 

They were gathering around him, getting in his fucking face, yelling. 

"Leave me alone!" Klaus wailed. 

He couldn't see Ben anymore, he was lost in the throng of them. 

"Leave me alone!" He said again, begging this time. 

Now the ghosts were grabbing him, clawing at him. Just like they used to when he was younger. Just like before, when he would die and come back. Klaus was breathing hard, and he knew he was having a panic attack. Oh God, not another one, not now! Not in the house of some fucking murderous psycho doing Sir Reginald's bidding. 

Klaus curled in on himself, managing to shove his head under a pillow. The ghosts were still there, and they were still screaming. They wouldn't go away. They would never go away, Klaus realized. He would be stuck with the dead forever. 

"Please," he whimpered. 

He might as well have pleaded with the wall.


	24. Forced Mutism

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: I’m happy people are excited about another update. However I am in the process of apartment hunting and therefore I am not going to be updating either until late December 2020 or January 2021. I’m sorry for the delay but it’s very important I get this done quickly as the prepaid rent is going to run out soon where I currently reside. Thank you.

It was weird, being a prisoner. Not just that he was locked up and only let out to use the bathroom. Most of the time, Klaus didn't see him. Harold had a job, which Ben sometimes followed him to. He also was gathering information on the Academy, which Ben also followed him for. He would report to Klaus when he got back.

"He does actually work down the street from the bar," Ben said once.

"I have the worst possible luck," he groaned in reply. 

"No shit. I don't think he really intended to kidnap you. You were just... There. He saw the opportunity." 

This did nothing to make Klaus feel better. 

"What about our illustrious siblings?" Klaus asked.

"Clueless," Ben confirmed. "He's definitely stalking them, but he seems to be targeting Five."

Klaus snorted. "What? Why?" 

Ben worried his lip between his teeth, then sighed. "He's kind of... Not kicked out, but definitely estranged from the others."

"But on the news--"

"That's just for show," Ben said. "I followed Five after a mission? Everyone else ignores him. It's kind of like how we ignored Vanya when we were all kids." 

"Well shit," said Klaus. 

"Yeah. Five's also not convinced the apocalypse is off, he's sure it's still the same date and... Don't get mad."

"Why?" 

Ben sighed. "He's trying to find you."

Klaus tried to sit up but only succeeded in pulling on the handcuffs. "Me?" 

"Yeah. According to his new calculations, he thinks you're going to stop the apocalypse," Ben told him.

"I think that's giving me too much credit," said Klaus derisively. 

"Maybe, but he is trying. I'm attempting to talk to him but it's kind of hard without you there." 

"Good luck with that."

It should have made him feel... Something. Relief? Something besides the cold certainty that if Five wasn't so obsessed with the apocalypse he wouldn't give a shit where Klaus was. He sure as fuck didn't give a shit when Klaus was being repeatedly murdered. None of them had. He tried to use his anger to access his powers, but it was no use, he was too tired. 

He also wondered if this was what God was talking about. She'd been on him to use his powers for the betterment of mankind. Klaus of course had no fucking idea what that meant or what it entailed. It sounded like a lot of work. Work he didn't wish to put in. And secretly, if given the option, would he save the world? 

Klaus had lived a long life of agony. he was now pushing sixty, at least inside his head. He now had two lifetimes of trauma and heartbreak crammed inside of his skull, and it did not feel good. He hated that those around him had either actively contributed or hadn't stopped it. People he loved, people he thought loved him. 

But then, he thought of Dave, and how he wouldn't want Klaus to take his issues out on the whole world. Yeah, if push came to shove, he'd save the world. Probably. 

Klaus thought Harold must have heard this theory. Sometimes, it seemed like Harold was trying to win Klaus over which was just bizarre. He would come up to the attic with little things for him. Like his favorite veggie burger or a record Klaus had liked as a teenager. He would smile and say, "I was really obsessed. I read every article about you and your brothers and sisters."

"What about the foreign language ones?" Klaus asked.

"I have those," Harold replied. "I'd usually ask someone to translate for me and then I would write it down. You were very chatty with that teen magazine from Tokyo."

Klaus was pretty sure he knew what article Harold was talking about. "The reporter was hot." 

Harold chuckled. "You were always very open about your sexuality. Though... I'm not clear. Are you bi or gay?" 

"I'm pansexual. Though I've been described as omnisexual, too. I don't really like that term," Klaus said. 

"Interesting. What's it like?"

"I dunno, what's it like to be straight?" 

Harold had actually laughed at that. It was kind of nice to have this sort of conversation, but it was so hard to focus. Klaus wasn't having the easiest time maintaining coherency these days. 

Klaus hadn't truly slept since he'd arrived. He felt like he was going insane. Ben tried to help, especially with the other ghosts, but he could only do so much. It had gotten to the point that Klaus would randomly scream at the top of his lungs. Which disturbed Harold enough that he came up to visit one night.

"What's wrong?" Harold asked as he came in.

Klaus didn't respond, at least not with words. he kept screaming. 

"You're going to wake my neighbors," he said.

"Fuck your neighbors!" Klaus yelled, then screamed again, this time for help.

Harold shook his head and left the room. When he came back, it was with an old belt and a little brown leather case. He climbed on top of Klaus, straddling his chest. Klaus lifted his head and tried to bite him. Harold slapped him across the face, then tied the belt around Klaus's head. Klaus couldn't open his mouth, though he could still make noise. 

"I don't want to have to do this," Harold said. "But you're not giving me a choice." 

He then opened the case, revealing some needles, and tiny spools of thread. Klaus was pretty sure he knew where this was going, and he wriggled trying to get out from under Harold. For such a little guy, he was fucking heavy. 

Harold selected a rather thick needle and threaded it, then leaned over and said, "Don't struggle, you'll make me slip and I'll have to rip the stitches out and start over." He held Klaus's lips together, and he gasped when he felt the needle pierce them.

It seemed to take forever. The small piercing pain of the needle, the horrifying sensation of thread going through his fucking _lips_. Harold had his tongue clenched through his teeth as he worked. Like he was really trying to concentrate. At one point, he was even humming a little tune. Once he was finished, he tied off the end and cut the needle away with a tiny pair of scissors.

"There, not bad if I do say so myself," said Harold.

Klaus couldn't respond. Of all the fucked up shit that had been done to him over the years, this wasn't the worst, but definitely in the top ten. 

Harold got off of Klaus, then patted the side of his face with his hand. "Have a good night." And with that, he left. 

Ben looked sick as he approached Klaus, and he asked, "Are you okay?"

Klaus shook his head. He tried reaching out with his mind, but he'd been dosed earlier in the evening. He could feel something wet dripping down his chin, but whether it was sweat or blood, he didn't know. 

"I'm going to get you out of here," said Ben.

Klaus raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know how, but I'll think of something," he said. 

He closed his eyes, trying to take his mind off the present. Klaus thought of Dave, and before he knew it, he was dreaming. It was a dream he'd had before, and it always made him sad when he woke up. Klaus welcomed the reprieve. 

It was sunny, with clear blue skies, but a chilly breeze blowing. The leaves of the trees were splashes of red, orange, and gold. Autumn, his favorite time of the year. Walking through a valley in the middle of a forest, a lake ahead of him. 

"Beautiful here, isn't it?" Dave asked, slinging an arm around Klaus's shoulders. 

"Yeah, gorgeous," Klaus replied, kissing his cheek. 

When they reached the water, Dave laid out a blanket and they sat together. Klaus was snuggled close, Dave's strong arms around him, just watching the sun as it set, the orange glow making the trees look alive. He smiled and whispered, "I don't want to wake up." 

"You'll have to eventually," Dave told him. He then turned Klaus's head to face him, and gently kissed his lips. "But we can have this, for now. I love you." 

"I love you too," said Klaus. 

He basked in the warm glow of the sunset, and Dave's love. Yes, it was still chilly from the fall breeze, but Klaus didn't mind. It was a small price to pay for a brief respite from his captivity.


	25. Disorientation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found an apartment and work's been pretty slow, so I've been able to finish my Whumptober. It's almost two months late but never late than never right? I'm posting all chapters today. As for _Until the End of Everything_ not quite sure when I'll start that one again but hopefully soon.

Harold just left him like that. With his mouth sewn shut, Klaus couldn't eat. Harold would bring him water and smoothies, stuff he could suck through a straw, but no solid food. And the lack of food, water, sunlight, and possible infection from the stitches was taking its toll on Klaus. 

He was seeing things that weren't there, like his siblings or Sir Reginald. He would sometimes babble to Dave, about how he was the love of his life and they should get married. Dave of course wasn't in the room. the only ghost in the room was Ben who was increasingly worried. 

Ben tried to help but seeing as he was a ghost and Klaus couldn't use his powers, there wasn't a whole lot he could do. 

Still, Harold was nice to him sometimes. He'd bring him music to listen to, or an extra blanket when it got cold. He tended the stitches as best he could, though after a few days Klaus could practically smell the infection. He died once from it, but there was no one in the Waiting Room when he arrived. Maybe God and the Devil had given up on him. Everyone else had. 

The darkness inside him, that had been sleeping for years, started to wake. He could feel it. There was the same dull certainty of ages past, that no one cared about him. No one wanted him, at least no one living. And that he'd been left to die. Over and over, like the worst possible version of Groundhog Day. 

When Harold came back, Klaus was actually glad to see him. He had a pair of scissors in hand and said, "I'll cut the stitches, but you have to promise to be quiet. Blink once for yes, twice for no."

Klaus blinked once. 

He cut the stitches slowly and pulled the threads out. Klaus gasped, and said, "Son of a bitch." It was hard to talk, and his voice sounded like a rusty nail being dragged along a screen door. 

"You'll be quiet now," Harold replied. "Sir Reginald did say you learn best from pain."

Klaus asked, "Is he still in prison?"

"Yes. A life sentence. Which for an alien with an expanded lifespan... That's a long time to be locked up." 

"It's too good for him," Klaus muttered. 

"Would you kill him if you had the chance?" 

"Yes." There wasn't much of a point in lying when he'd never be allowed out of here. 

"I appreciate your honesty," Harold said. He had a first aid kit with him. He opened it and began tending Klaus's torn lips. "Sometimes I wonder what it would take for you to truly die." 

He kept talking as he worked. "Sir Reginald told me everything. He kept a journal of his experiments and had someone smuggle it into the prison for him. He was going to try decapitating you next. He thought you might actually be able to survive with your head severed from your body." 

Klaus was suddenly very glad he'd escaped when he had. 

"Or maybe you'd just grow a new body. That's what I thought anyway." Harold took out a syringe, and before Klaus could react he injected something into Klaus's neck. 

"What--" Klaus tried to say, but he couldn't talk, he was losing feeling in his face. The numbness was spreading throughout his body. He was paralyzed. He couldn't really see either. His eyes were all blurry. 

"This will probably hurt a lot," said Harold. "I thought this might help." He uncuffed Klaus, and then picked him up and brought him downstairs. 

He laid Klaus on the dining room table, and he was trying to remember to breathe. Oh fuck, what was happening?! Where was Ben?! He mentally cried out for his brother, but there wasn't a single ghost in sight. Then again maybe there were and Klaus just couldn't see them. Harold came back into his field of vision, hefting up something he couldn't quite make out. 

"Isn't this great?" Harold asked. "It's the same kind of ax they'd use to execute people during Henry VIII's reign. Not Anne Boleyn of course, for her they used a sword. It was supposed to be more humane." 

Klaus couldn't even scream, he was paralyzed. All he could do was lie there and watch as the ax came down and--

"Haven't seen you in a while." 

Klaus sighed. "Hey, Eddie."

"Quit calling me that," the Devil said, helping Klaus to his feet.

He didn't respond. He saw that God was there too, and She was observing him. "You'll be here for some time," She said. 

"So does my head have to be attached or am I growing a whole new body?" Klaus asked. 

"New body," the Devil said. "It's gonna be pretty disgusting, a lot like Deadpool actually." 

"Ugh, I hated that movie."

"Don't see why, it's pretty funny," the Devil said. 

"Okay, to be fair I like the first one but the second one they didn't really try you know? It was all, 'let's be as gross as possible and really earn that R rating' instead of being funny or like, relevant. Totally cheapened the first one," Klaus said.

God actually looked amused. "Are you going to listen to me now?" 

"Have I not been?" Klaus asked. 

She rolled her eyes. "The apocalypse is coming, Klaus. You need to find your family before Harold makes his move."

"He _just_ cut my head off!" Klaus squawked. 

"I am aware of that," God said, her tone cranky. "But he's going to kill the entire world and believe it or not, that's your problem, too!"

"Wouldn't the apocalypse be a good thing for you though?" Klaus asked grumpily. "It is written and all that shit." 

"Actually, we've talked about it," the Devil said. "And we rather think perhaps we were a little hasty in our youth. Also you people are only just starting to become interesting. It'd be a shame to stop now." 

Klaus blinked. "What about all that 'you can't stop the apocalypse you can only delay it a little while' shit?" 

"I stand by that statement. I just don't want it over with yet," God said simply.

He felt like he was going to have an aneurysm. He sighed and rubbed at his face. "You know what? Fine, fuck it. You want me to help them stop the apocalypse? I'll do it. On one condition."

"Name it."

"I want to die. For real this time."

God and the Devil exchanged glances. She crossed her arms, and the Devil shook his head.

"No, you can't--"

"I've already agreed to accept him into Heaven," God said. "The least you can do is make sure he actually gets here." 

The Devil groaned. "Why do I always get stuck with the shit job?" He shrugged. "Fine, I'll make sure you die once the apocalypse has been stopped." 

"Thank you." 

Klaus meant it, too. He was relieved. It'd be over soon. He didn't know he was crying until the Devil handed him a handkerchief. He wiped his eyes and said, "I'm sorry, I don't usually get weepy or anything but it's just been... It's been a lot."

"We know," the Devil said. "I get it." 

"Do you think..." Klaus trailed off, not sure he could ask the question.

Both the Devil and God were looking at him curiously, and She gestured for him to go on. 

"Are my siblings going to end up here? When they die, I mean." 

The Devil snorted. "I'd say you're on drugs but I know where you've been."

"Some will, some won't," God said.

"I don't have to see them, right?" Klaus asked.

"It wouldn't be Heaven if you were forced to see the people you didn't want to," said God. 

Klaus chuckled. "I guess you have a point." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Is Five really the only one trying to find me?"

"No," the Devil said. "They're all looking for you, in their own way."

"Can't believe it took me running away for them to think I was worth anything," Klaus muttered. "They were probably more concerned about Ben anyway. He's the favorite after all." 

"That's a rather pessimistic viewpoint, don't you think?" God asked. 

"Prove me wrong." 

She rolled her eyes. "If you're done being dramatic, I have a way for you to get away from Harold."

Klaus held his hands up. "Okay, whenever you're ready." 

God smirked. "Pay attention."

And so She talked. The Devil offered his own advice. Klaus was happy because he was definitely getting the fuck out of there. God was a masterful tactician, and the Devil wasn't so bad either. Once She had finished talking, she added, "As soon as you get out, you need to get back to the Academy." 

"Why?" Klaus asked with a frown. 

"Once you're gone, Harold will destroy the Academy. I know how you feel about your family, Klaus, but that will start the apocalypse."

That didn't sound right. "Why would that make a difference?"

"Things have been different since your father went to prison," the Devil said. "Your family's not quite right." 

"So Vanya could still blow up the moon?" 

"If she loses control of her powers trying to stop the Academy's destruction, yes," God said.

The impact of Her words hit Klaus square between the eyes. "But Vanya has control over her powers now! Like, perfect control!" 

"Her power is unstable, it always has been, always will be. It's why your father tried to suppress it," the Devil said. "The only reason he didn't this time was because of his focus on you and your immortality."

"Sounds fake but okay," Klaus muttered.

Things were starting to fade. Time to go back. "I'm scared," Klaus admitted. 

"You'll do great," the Devil assured him. "Be brave. And kick that bastard in the groin, you'll feel better. And don't listen to your family they're just nervous. Old habits die hard."

"What does that mean?" Klaus asked

"Get going," the Devil replied.

"Be seeing you," Klaus said before waking up.


	26. Migraine

Klaus slowly came back to himself. His body felt weird, like a new toothbrush right out of the plastic packaging. Which what the fuck? Where did that comparison even come from? He carefully looked around to see if Harold was nearby, but nothing. And apparently, he was getting sloppy, because Klaus wasn't handcuffed or tied down.

His head fucking hurt. It felt like someone was stabbing him repeatedly and it did not feel great. 

"Yes," he muttered, reaching out with his powers and summoning every ghost in a five-block radius. Ben was the first to appear at his side.

"Are you okay? Why are you naked? Is that... Jesus fuck Klaus is that your body behind you?!" 

Klaus turned, and yep, there was his old body on the ground. "That's not something I ever thought I'd see," he said.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Ben said.

"Do you think I could harvest my organs from it and freeze them? Like in case I need a transplant or something?" Klaus asked.

"What is wrong with you?" Moaned Ben. 

"Lots of things. And we don't have time to get into it," Klaus said, then turned to the other ghosts. "Find Harold Jenkins and kill him." 

The ghosts dispersed, and Klaus went to find something to cover himself with. He located a bathrobe that would at least cover his fun bits so he wouldn't be arrested. That was something. He then used his powers to unlock the front door and let himself out. 

"Where are we going?" Ben asked. 

Klaus didn't answer, he was trying to focus on the escape. Which was getting more and more difficult with how bad his head hurt. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to summon the ghosts right away. Yes, his body was completely new and healthy. However, his brain had been through a lot and it was protesting quite vocally. 

"Klaus? Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine, Ben," he muttered. "I just need to..." Klaus trailed off, not sure how to finish the sentence. 

Walking the city streets late at night wearing a bathrobe wasn't a good idea at the best of times. And yeah, this was not the best time. Klaus was losing contact with the ghosts he'd sent after Harold. Which meant he wasn't in the area. Which meant he could be getting ready to attack the Academy right now.

"Do you remember where the Academy is?" Klaus asked quietly.

Ben's eyes widened. "Why?"

"Because that's where we're going. Harold's trying to destroy it and I can't make it there on my own."

He didn't argue, instead, he took Klaus's arm and muttered, "Come on." 

It was a hard walk. It was late, Klaus was pretty much naked, and he was disoriented. He had an epic migraine and it was damn near impossible to see anything past it. Also, his "new" body wasn't really digging the whole "walking" thing. 

Finally, he saw those familiar doors. He let out a sigh and said, "They're gonna eat me alive."

"They need to know what's happening Klaus." 

"Unsurprisingly I still don't want to see them," he said. But Klaus climbed the steps and knocked. 

The door opened, and it was Allison standing there, eyes wide. Her hair was in little black plaits, and they were held back with a scrunchie. She was dressed head to toe in black, sporting yoga pants and a tank top with sneakers. "Klaus?" 

"Hi," he said, waving his hand a little. "I--"

He didn't get a chance to finish. Allison's hand shot out and she pulled him close, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. She was sobbing, and guilt was gnawing at Klaus's heart. He stroked her back and said, "It's okay. Can we go in? I need to tell you guys something, it's important." 

She dragged him inside and said, "Family meeting! Now!" 

Clearly, Allison was not the only person who heard the door. It wasn't just Allison in the get-up, either. Everyone was wearing a black tank top with yoga pants and sneakers. Jesus, did they start a cult? Matching clothes meant a cult, and he would know. It struck Klaus all of a sudden how different they each looked. 

Luther's body was normal, no gorilla shit. He'd grown his hair out too and had a bit of a beard going. Diego... No scar on his cheek, but he still had the one on his eyebrow. He was clean-shaven, and his hair was so long now it was in a slick ponytail. Vanya's hair was in a braid, pinned to the back of her head, and there was a small scar across the top of her nose. Five was of course the biggest change. Images on TV hadn't done him justice.

"Wow, you grew up to be _really_ hot," Klaus said to Five. 

"You're here," Diego said in awe.

"Yeah, no time to reminisce. Harold Jenkins is alive and he's going to destroy the Academy," said Klaus.

"He what?!" Vanya asked.

"Damn it," Luther muttered.

"I knew I forgot something," said Diego. 

"When? We need a plan," Five declared

"Why are you naked?" Allison asked. 

Klaus actually smiled. He did miss them. For all the pain and suffering, and the knowledge that they'd left him to die, he still remembered the good times. From their first childhood, as few and far between as they were. The years had been no kinder to Klaus away from them. He was tired, and he felt so fucking old now. No wonder Five had been such a crusty pain in the ass when he'd first come back. 

He was exhausted physically and emotionally. Klaus didn't know it was possible to be this tired. Five was talking to him, or so he thought. It was hard to think with how bad his head hurt. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and someone asked, "Are you okay?"

"No, I don't think I am," Klaus replied. 

"You look like shit," said Five.

"Yeah well you try growing a new body and we'll see how hot you look."

"You what?!" Allison squawked. 

"Grow a new body?!" Diego exclaimed.

"Are you serious?" Luther asked.

"Are you okay?!" said Vanya, concern creasing her forehead. 

"That's enough," said Five. "Let's get Klaus to a bed then we can discuss how to handle Harold Jenkins."

Klaus saw the others exchange glances, and they were not friendly ones. So, Five was still on the outs with the rest of them. No one could hold a grudge like a Hargreeves. Klaus would know. 

"I'm fine," Klaus said. 

"You are not," Ben scoffed.

"Shut up."

They were staring at him again. They wanted to ask, of course, they did. Even in the new timeline, Ben was always the favorite brother. He could hear it in their heads. "He's here," Klaus said dejectedly. "Ben." 

"Is he okay?" Allison asked.

"He's dead, what do you think?" Klaus snapped.

She exchanged glances with Diego, who said, "Take him or leave him. It's your call." 

"What is?" Klaus asked.

"Allison's the team leader now," Luther explained. "Out of all of us, she's the only one who's ever organized anything that actually worked."

"Have you kept up any of your training?" Allison asked Klaus, who sighed.

"That's all it comes down to, isn't it? Whether or not I'm useful." And wow, he still had those repressed issues. It was coming back, that darkness, the bitter anger, and his hatred. "And I'm not good for anything else am I? Just bringing Ben back, and dying. Again, and again, and again!" 

"Klaus, calm down," Ben said. "She didn't mean it like that."

"Oh fuck you!"

He was so angry he could hardly see. Klaus held his hands out, and every ghost in the neighborhood was in the Academy. They were visible, and staring at the rest of the family with hostility. Two of them approached Klaus, the taller one said, "He's outside." 

"Figures," Klaus replied. "Fine, I'll take care of him myself."

"Wait Klaus--" Allison started, but Klaus ignored her. 

He threw the doors of the Academy open with his mind. And there he was, standing in the middle of the street like an idiot. Holding a gun of all things. A gun, really? To stop the Umbrella Academy? Harold's eyes were wide, and he asked, "What are you doing here?" 

"This," Klaus replied. 

He summoned the ghosts, who came surging out of the Academy. They surrounded Harold, taking the gun from him. They were pushing him around, one punched him, another clawed at his face. Harold was gasping, pleading for help. Or for mercy. 

His siblings were behind him now, and Vanya, having an inkling of what Klaus was feeling, said, "You don't have to do this."

"I'm not, they are," Klaus told her. 

He'd never been the type to play with his food, either. He stepped out into the street, his sisters and brothers behind him. Ben was pleading with him to go back inside, not to do this. But Klaus couldn't hear him or really see him for that matter. All he saw was Harold Jenkins, and what he'd done. 

Klaus silently gave the order, and the ghosts fell on Harold in a frenzy. They made short work of him, and in moments, Harold was dead. Klaus then let the ghosts go, and they vanished. 

"What have you done?" 

Klaus turned, looking at his siblings. They were staring at him in horror. "There, no more apocalypse. Hope everyone's happy."

They'd fallen into defensive stances. Diego had a knife out, Vanya's eyes were white, Luther and Five were flanking Allison, who crossed her arms over her chest. He wished he could say he was surprised. 

"Seriously? I just did you a favor!"

"You killed a man in cold blood," said Luther.

"He killed me first!" Klaus shot back. 

"I heard a rumor you passed out," Allison said.

And he did.


	27. Earthquake/Power Outage

He wasn't even surprised when he woke up in the isolation room. Wearing... Someone's pajamas. He guessed Five's, they were kind of old fashioned. But no, not surprised. Why should he be? No one in this family ever learned their lesson. Which included Klaus for that matter. Since he was even told not to listen to his siblings by the Devil of all fucking people. But he'd flown off the handle and killed someone.

Not that Klaus would be weeping over Harold. Why would he? And he was sure none of the others would be shedding tears over that either. So why lock him up again? 

Ben was sitting on the bed. "They're afraid."

"Yeah I'm getting that," Klaus said.

He blinked. 

Blinked again.

"What'd they give me?"

"Thorazine, they're trying to keep you from starting the apocalypse," Ben said.

Of course. Because Klaus couldn't do anything right. he couldn't be trusted. Klaus rubbed his face and said, "Figures." 

"You scared the hell out of them, you scared me too," said Ben, leaning closer. "Klaus, what happened?"

"Flashback," he replied, turning on his side. "I didn't mean it." 

"What kind of flashback?" 

Klaus ran a hand through his hair. "Just... Everything. Dave, both horrible childhoods. How no one ever listens to me and assumes I'm on drugs all the time. What even is the point of staying sober if no one believes I can?" 

"I know you can though," Ben countered. "I've seen you. I don't approve of what you've done, but I know you're better than this. They know it too, deep down."

"Then why is it they never believe me?" Klaus asked. 

At that, Ben sighed. "I don't know. Maybe because there's been too much deception on all sides. They don't even know everything that you can do." 

Klaus paused, then said, "You're right."

He got to his feet. While yes, they'd given him a sedative, it wasn't enough to impact his powers. There were still ghosts wandering around, but he didn't necessarily need them for what he was about to do. He reached out with his mind. The door didn't precisely blow off its hinges. It looked more like a giant had come along and crushed it like an empty beer can.

"Klaus," Ben said, a warning in his tone.

"I'm out of here," he replied. "Stay, go, I don't care." 

"You can't, they won't let you go and you don't have the strength to get away."

"They can't stop me if they're dead," Klaus said.

Ben stood in front of him, blocking his path. "I won't let you kill them!" 

"Ben," he said, holding up his 'Goodbye' hand. "I don't want to kill them. But I will if they won't let me go. And you're not going to stop me. Hold him."

Four ghosts came from nowhere and grabbed Ben, who struggled against their grip. "Klaus, please! It's not too late, don't do this!" 

He ignored Ben.

Klaus stepped out into the hall and walked to the elevator. As he went up, he reflected. Had he given them a chance? Had he proven he could be more than a liability? It didn't matter though, did it? When the elevator stopped, he opened the door with his powers and stepped out into the library.

They were in the middle of dinner, and boy did they look surprised to see him. What shocked Klaus however, was who was with them. 

"Mom?" He said.

She smiled and said, "My brave boy. It's been so long I hardly recognized you!" Grace stepped away from Diego, who had jumped to his feet and tried to stop her. Grace ignored him and stood in front of Klaus. She touched his face, smiling. "I missed you so much." 

"I thought you'd been deactivated," he said. Or at least that's what he'd heard on the news. It came up in the aftermath of their father's arrest when the question of "who will care for the children" came up on some late-night talk show. Nevermind they were full-grown adults at the time. 

"I was, for a little while," she said. 

Five appeared next to Klaus, saying, "I found Dad's notes after you left. They detailed how he'd changed her so she wouldn't help you if you were in danger. I reset her programming."

Grace was still smiling at him as she did back then. Like on the day she'd electrocuted him to death. Klaus was trying to tell himself to breathe, but it wasn't working. "So that's it? She helps murder me and she gets off scot-free? Her food's not that good!"

"She's not a person, Klaus, she's not responsible for what she did to you, Dad is. And he's in prison," Allison said. 

"For killing Ben," Klaus muttered.

"You weren't at the trial," Luther told him. "He was charged with murder and child abuse. For what he did to all of us, but especially because of you."

Klaus could feel tears streaming down his face. "No, you're lying." Ghosts were filing into the room, responding to his distress. They blazed bright blue as they appeared. Klaus could hear that Vanya was powering up. Diego had a knife out again, Allison was trying to creep around as though Klaus couldn't see her. Luther was shielding her with his body. 

Five however didn't move. No weird time energy around his hands, no indication he was using his powers. "Klaus, please. I'm sorry. We all are." 

Klaus looked at Five and said, "We'll see about that." Then before Five could move, Klaus placed his fingers against Five's forehead. He didn't need to do this to tap into his brother's mind, but if he was going to have to go deep for the truth, physical contact would strengthen the connection. 

He could see everything. Five's loneliness in the apocalypse, the insanity the Commission not only discovered but made worse. Then when he reached their second childhood, that's when things got intense. He could see himself in Five's mind, burning and pleading for help. He could feel Five's disgust with himself, and fear of their father. 

There was more, so much more. Five trying to find him, doing calculation after calculation. And it worked. Five had actually found him once in LA. He could see himself, standing on a street corner, talking with a friend. Laughing. He looked happy. And he felt Five's disappointment in himself. That he couldn't make this happen for Klaus. 

He'd decided to leave Klaus alone, assuming that he'd finally found happiness or at least wasn't miserable. Until Five ran the numbers again and discovered the apocalypse was still on but delayed. Delayed until... 

Then the connection broke and Klaus said, "Oh shit... Tomorrow's the 31st. Halloween 2020." He knew what that meant. Tomorrow, Klaus was going to die. And it was going to stick. He'd been so wrapped up in, well, everything, he'd completely lost track of the time. He could see Dave again, tomorrow! The thought alone overwhelmed him. 

The ghosts had disappeared, and the others had powered down as well. Five was rubbing the sides of his head as though he had the world's worst headache. "It's why I wanted to find you. The world will end tomorrow." 

"But Klaus just killed Harold Jenkins," Vanya said. "Doesn't that mean we avoided it?"

"I doubt it. The last time he got killed didn't stop it," Luther pointed out. 

"How do we know he's not the cause?" Diego asked gruffly, gesturing to Klaus. 

"I am," Klaus said quietly.

Everyone turned to stare at him. "You're what?" Five asked.

"Harold, he was after all of us. He met Dad in prison and Dad says we're the reason the apocalypse keeps happening. So, I guess you could say I'm the cause. But so are all of you," Klaus concluded.

He could see they were trying to take it in. Trying to buck two lifetimes of Dad's mind games and deny it. The problem was, it made sense. A sick kind of sense that none of them wanted to acknowledge. Five was the first to snap out of it. 

"That's not right," Five said. "Every calculation I've run shows we stop the apocalypse. Eventually. We may not have gotten it right yet, but we will." 

Allison was about to ask a question when something shifted. There was a low rumbling, and then the whole room was shaking.

"Earthquake!" Diego said, and then shoved Vanya under the table, following her. Five vanished, and Allison went for a doorway. 

There was a cracking sound, and Klaus looked up to see the ceiling was coming apart. And a huge piece broke through, aimed right for Luther's stupid head. Klaus used his powers to stop it, then tried to keep the rest of the place from caving in on them. The lights flickered and went out, and he thought he heard a scream. 

Finally, everything fell silent. 

"We need light," Five said.

There was a soft glow. Someone was lighting candles. Then there was a hand on his shoulder and Luther said, "It's okay. You can let go."

Klaus was crying again, and he relaxed. Part of the roof came down, and through it, he could see the moon. "Almost full," he muttered. 

"You saved my life," said Luther.

"Yeah, how about that," Klaus said, not really paying attention to him. 

"Power's out all over town," said Diego from the window.

"Does anyone else think it's a little weird we have an earthquake the day before the apocalypse?" Vanya asked.

"I doubt it's a coincidence, we should look into it," said Allison.

Klaus sighed, ready to just leave. But Five was standing in the doorway, and he said, "We could use your help on this one." 

"You don't need me," Klaus replied. 

"Klaus, there are a lot of issues we need to work out later. I know you don't owe us anything, not after the way we've treated you. Especially after what I did. I'm so sorry for all of it," said Five. "But we need you. Please help us?" 

He almost said no. The nerve of him to ask! Then he glanced at the others and it made him pause. They were afraid. But not of him, for him. He could see the years they'd spent, not knowing if he was alive or dead. Keeping the channels of communication open, hopeful that he'd contact them but afraid he never would. 

"Every time I try to get out, they pull me back in," he said, in a very horrible impression of Al Pacino. He wiped the tears away with the sleeve of his pajamas. 

Vanya hugged Klaus, quickly followed by Allison, Luther, Five, and lastly, Diego. Ben approached, apparently, he'd gotten loose from the other ghosts. When he saw the group hug, he sighed in relief. 

"It's not over yet," Klaus told him.

"I know," Ben replied.


	28. Accidents

Klaus suited up with his siblings. It turned out the yoga pants tank top combo was the undersuit to their new super fancy outfits. Klaus hadn't kept as close an eye on the Umbrella Academy's exploits in the past few years. Mostly just enough to know where and how to avoid them. He had to admit, he liked the new costumes.

For starters, they'd gotten rid of the stupid domino masks. Klaus had always hated them he thought they looked weird. Secondly, they had high tech, lightweight armor for combat missions. It covered them from neck to feet and reminded Klaus of those jumpsuits that motorcycle racers wore. The suits were designed by Luther and Diego. They'd found some of Sir Reginald's old notes which deemed the armor as unnecessary. 

Luther had fabricated it while Diego was responsible for testing. When Luther had presented the armored suit to Klaus, he was surprised, to say the least. 

"When did you make this?" Klaus asked as Diego buckled him in. 

"While you were unconscious downstairs. Allison's idea," Diego replied. Klaus gathered from his tone that Diego hadn't approved. "We've got a 3D printer in Dad's old office, we can make anything with it."

"Can you make pizza?" 

"Kind of, but you don't want to eat it. Kind of tastes like it came out of a can." 

"I'd still eat it." 

Diego finished, then mumbled, "I'm sorry."

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "For what?" 

"For not believing you back then," said Diego. "And for how I treated you when you came back today."

"Water under the bridge. I wasn't being saint-like myself," Klaus reminded him.

"Yeah, but... We should have learned. I should have learned how to control my temper by now," he said. 

"We'll have to save this for later. Lives to save and all that good shit," said Klaus. It was making him uncomfortable, the apologies. It was so much easier to be indifferent when he thought they still hated him. 

Klaus tied his hair back, and he and Diego joined the rest of the team. Ben was already there, visible by Klaus's power. He smiled a bit and Klaus returned it. 

"From what I can determine," said Five, writing on a chalkboard. "The power grid is only affected here at the Academy, downtown, and in Briarville." 

"Any word from the prison?" Allison asked.

"None, phone lines are down too," Five replied. 

"So he could have escaped," Luther said.

Klaus sighed. "Bet you 20 bucks that Dad arranged this." 

"How could he from inside a jail cell?" Vanya asked.

"He managed to turn Harold Jenkins into his little puppet, it's not much of a leap to think he might have done the same with other prisoners," Ben said. 

"Are we sure it was an earthquake?" Asked Diego.

"According to the US Geological Survey, yes," explained Five. "However after the Lila disaster, it wouldn't surprise me if there were more like her out there."

That was news to Klaus. "Lila? Did she come back?" 

"Yeah, she did. A couple years after you... Disappeared," Diego said. "She came looking for us after she got hurt. She was trying to find the other kids." Diego trailed off.

"And she did," Allison said. "But she was fatally injured and didn't make it." 

"Oh... Fuck, I'm sorry," he said to Diego. 

He shook his head but other than that did not give a response. "Did she say anything about the other kids?"

"Just to confirm Dad's notes, that there were 43 spontaneous births," Allison said. 

"Dad was still trying to track them all down, even after he got us," Five explained. "He had some success. But when we followed up they were all gone. Moved, changed their names, some mysteriously vanished." 

"Well that's not good," Klaus muttered. And it wasn't. "Wonder if one of them could cause earthquakes."

"We'll have to burn that bridge when we get to it," Allison said. "We need to split up. Luther and Five will take Briarsville. Diego, Vanya, I want you two downtown. I'll stay here with Klaus." 

"Wait a minute--" Klaus started, but Allison held her hand up for him to be quiet. 

"Please, Klaus. I need a heavy hitter on each team. If this is linked to the apocalypse and Dad, the next attack would be here. You're our best chance of defending the Academy. If that does happen, you need to hold off whoever or whatever is coming and give Five a chance to fetch the rest of the team." 

She was right, and Klaus knew it. Ben raised an eyebrow, and Klaus sighed, unable to help the huffy tone. "Fine." 

"Great. Everyone keep your communicators close by. If you need evac just signal," she said. 

Five, Luther, Vanya, and Diego left. Allison and Klaus looked at each other, and Five asked, "Shall we?"

"Sure." 

They walked out of the Academy, patrolling the perimeter. Then Allison suggested they sweep the neighborhood. There weren't many other occupied buildings nearby. Sir Reginald owned the entire block, and it seems that his brothers and sisters hadn't been renting the buildings out. 

"What are we looking for exactly?" Ben asked.

"Anything suspicious," Klaus replied.

"You mean besides you?"

"Haha, Ben, very funny," Klaus muttered. 

They alternated between circling the Academy and fanning out, and at about two in the morning, Klaus said, "I'm starting to feel stupid." 

"Me too, if Dad were going to make a move--" But then Allison stilled. "Did you hear that?"

Klaus nodded, then closed his eyes. Someone was coming. Klaus could hear their thoughts, and they were awash in pain. He knew the feeling, but wouldn't be able to delve deeper unless the person was in close proximity. "Someone's coming," Klaus said. 

"Cover me," she muttered, then slipped into the shadows. 

Klaus had to admit, she had gotten very good at that. The shuffling steps came closer, then to Klaus's surprise, Pogo appeared. 

"Oh my God," he said, but kept his distance. 

"Master Klaus, I hoped you would be here," he said. "You must leave."

"Why? What's going on?" Klaus asked. 

"Your father has your brothers, soon he'll have Miss Vanya and Master Diego too," Pogo explained. 

Allison was behind Pogo, and she said, "I heard a rumor you told us everything." 

Pogo's eyes misted over, and he started talking. "Your father is trying to stop the Umbrella Academy from ending the world. I tried to defend you, but he wouldn't listen. He's rendered Master Five unconscious, I'm not certain what he's done with Master Luther. But he is going to kill Miss Vanya, he believes she is the key." 

"What about the earthquake?" Klaus asked.

"One of his minions. Once it was clear that your father would be going to prison, he manipulated the system. He knew there were two more special children who'd been incarcerated and one ordinary child of whom he could take advantage of," said Pogo.

"Harold Jenkins," said Allison, and Pogo nodded gravely.

"The very same. Of the other two, one is able to manipulate the Earth in any way he so chooses. The other, she can control all forms of technology," Pogo explained. 

"So why now?" Asked Allison.

"When Harold did not report in, your father was certain he had been killed. With his outside ears and eyes gone, he felt it was time to fall into the final phase of the plan to destroy the Umbrella Academy. When the power shut off in the prison, I used the time to escape to warn you." 

"And you said Five and Luther are already down?" Klaus asked.

"Yes."

Klaus grabbed Allison's hand and said, "Come on, we have to go."

"How? They took the car, we'd never get there in time!" Allison said.

"I have an idea." Klaus paused and said to Pogo, "Thanks."

"Your gratitude isn't necessary, there's so much I have yet to make up for," said Pogo. 

"Save it," Klaus replied. He took a deep breath and let it out. "Allison, I need you to hold on to me. Put your arms around my neck."

"Why, what are you doing?" She asked, but did as he instructed. 

"Something I haven't quite perfected yet," he replied. 

It was something he'd done once or twice, as a gag or to frighten people. He'd never attempted it while carrying another person. Klaus closed his eyes and concentrated, then heard Allison gasp when they'd lifted from the ground. 

"Klaus!" She yelped.

"Hang on!"

And they were off. Klaus was pretty wobbly at first. He wasn't the strongest person out there. But their family was in danger, and while those wounds still ran deep, Klaus didn't want to see any of them dead. Especially not by their father's hand. Not when Klaus could stop it. Not when he could do for them what no one had done for him. 

However, he had bitten off more than he could chew. About four blocks away from the outage downtown, his arms started to give. They were flying over Morrison Park, and he wasn't able to keep altitude. Allison realized this and said, "It's okay, you can let go." She was afraid, he knew that much. But she was trying to put on a brave face for him, so he wouldn't feel guilty. 

"Not a chance," Klaus said. "I'm going to get you as close to the trees as I can."

"What about you?" She asked.

"Don't worry about it!" Klaus then swung her around, shouting, "Look out below!" Before dropping Allison. 

She shrieked, but she did manage to catch a tree branch and haul herself up without injury. Klaus wasn't so lucky. 

He fell, and he fell hard, crashing into another tree. He heard a cracking sound that was not good, and while he was aware he'd hit the ground, he couldn't feel it. For a moment, fear gripped his heart. Was he paralyzed? Was he dying? Fuck, he wasn't ready yet. His family was still in danger!

"Klaus?" Allison was standing over him. "Can you hear me?" 

"God?" He asked.

"Oh Klaus," she said. "Stay here, I'll get help."

He heard Allison run off, dead leaves crunching beneath her boots. Ben knelt next to Klaus and asked, Is there anything I can do?"

"Don't leave me," Klaus whispered. 

"No, no of course not," said Ben. He could feel Ben's fingers carding through his hair. That was the last thing Klaus saw before he lost consciousness.


	29. Emergency Room

Klaus had never been in an emergency room, at least not this go around. What with his immortality and his father being a sadistic asshole. So waking up there was a really weird experience. A doctor was leaning over him, and she said, "Oh my God... Sir, can you hear me?"

"Yeah?" Klaus said though he wasn't sure. Maybe this was a dream. Though if it were he probably wouldn't feel like there was a tree branch up his ass. 

"Who's the president of the United States?" She asked.

Klaus could feel his face going pale. "Oh God don't make me say it." 

"That'll have to do," she said with a smile. "Sir, I need you to--"

"Where's my sister?" He asked, sitting up.

"Jesus! I thought you said he flatlined?!" The nurse asked, looking at the doctor in surprise. 

"He did! Martinez can back me up," she said. "He was dead!"

"Yeah, that happens to me a lot," Klaus replied, pulling the little sticky heart monitor things off. "Where am I?"

"Saints Hospital," she replied. "Sir, lie down."

"Fuck you," he replied, extracting himself from the gurney. Someone had removed the armor, but he was at least still dressed and had shoes on. He waved at the doctor and said, "Don't worry about it, good as new and all that shit. I need to find my family." 

Before the doctor could argue, or the nurses could stop him, Klaus was running out of the emergency room like his ass was on fire. It was still dark, but he heard bells chiming off in the distance. Four AM. He wasn't far from downtown either. 

Ben appeared and said, "Klaus, come on! They're this way!" 

Klaus jogged to catch up, asking, "What's happening?"

"Dad has Allison and Diego pinned down in a nightclub nearby. Vanya's unconscious. Dad's using Luther as a human shield and I don't know where Five is," Ben said.

"That seems uncharacteristically sloppy," Klaus said. 

"I think he was counting on surprise but Pogo botched it for him," said Ben. 

"How far are they?"

"About four minutes. Come on!" 

They ran as fast as they could. Which it turns out, Klaus actually couldn't run that fast. Not surprising given everything he'd been through tonight, including crashing into a tree. He couldn't help smirking. He could totally fly. Looks like Vanya wasn't the only one who could defy gravity after all. As they approached the nightclub, Klaus could see a chick with green hair pacing out front. 

"That Electro-Babe?" Klaus asked.

"Yeah, she's sneaky Klaus, be careful."

Klaus shrugged and started calling the ghosts. Yeah, not fancy or original, but it was really handy to have an army you couldn't kill at your fingertips. The girl with the green hair jumped when the first ghost appeared. She waved her hand, and suddenly a car came to life and tried to run the ghost over. Seeing as it was a ghost, there wasn't much success. The car jumped the curb and crashed into a building across the street. 

"I guess they just don't make Teslas like they used to," Klaus teased. "Hi, where's Dad?"

"You! You're the freak!" She hissed. "Let's see if you really are immortal!"

Klaus sighed and said, "Really not in the mood for this. Just tell me where he is, I want to talk to him."

She didn't answer. Instead, she thrust her fists out, and suddenly there were drones. Not to mention every electronic device in the vicinity seemed to suddenly be alive, including Klaus's communicator. It was making an awful shrieking sound, and actually flew off his belt and hit him in the neck.

"Son of a bitch!" Klaus said. He'd expected something like maybe being able to turn on a motorcycle without the keys. Apparently, he'd misunderstood exactly what she could do. She didn't just control electronics, she could give them life. 

"They're like little Transformers!" Ben said. He'd unleashed the Horror and was using it to crush the machines.

Klaus was using his own powers to smash, crush, and disassemble as many as he could as quickly as possible. The ghosts were doing the same, grabbing the machines and tearing them apart. It wasn't until the car suddenly lurched back onto the street that Klaus realized they'd made a mistake. 

"Oh shit!" Ben said. "Klaus!"

He could see it, and he wasn't sure how to stop it. The car had morphed into a giant metal knight. It was carrying its own muffler like a club, and it was headed right for Klaus. He reached out with his powers, but he was running low on energy, he wasn't able to stop it as the muffler came down and hit him. Once again, there was that crunching noise, the one that Klaus knew was definitely not a good thing. 

Then he was in the Break Room, and God was there, having a tea party with the Devil.

"So that's it?" Klaus asked. "That's the 'not by a force of this Earth?'" He sat down at the table, seeing as there were three place settings and he was sure the third was for him.

"No, not quite," the Devil said. "But this is going to be the last conversation that we have before you die for real."

"Oh... Okay. Any pearls of wisdom you'd like to throw before this swine?" Klaus asked. 

God was sipping a cup of tea, her feet swinging slightly as the chair was too tall for her. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," he said without thinking.

She was staring at him with a level gaze. "You're sure? There's no unfinished business?"

"Why do you ask?" 

God and the Devil exchanged glances. "Most people don't get as many chances as you," said the Devil. 

"In fact, no one has," God said. 

"So if there's anything you want to say to your family before you snuff it, you're only going to get the one chance," the Devil said. 

"Make it count. And when you wake up, make sure to grab the knife that's over by what's left of the car. You'll need it," God told him. 

"You got it." 

They sat in silence, having tea. If Klaus didn't know any better, he'd think they were nervous. When he could feel he was about to wake up, he asked, "Any messages you'd like me to pass on?"

"Tell Reggie I'll see him soon," the Devil said, and Klaus laughed. 

He woke up slowly, lying on the ground, and he felt fantastic. He could hear metallic shrieking and saw that the ghosts had been busy while he was dead. The car knight was in ruins, torn apart by angry spirits. And as promised, there was the knife. It was one of Diego's, he must have dropped it. Klaus rolled and grabbed the knife before getting to his feet. 

Electro-Babe was backed into a corner, and when she saw Klaus, her eyes were wide. "Impossible."

"Clearly not," he said. He thought about it, really thought about putting the knife right between her fucking eyes. Instead, he said, "Knock her out but don't kill her." He couldn't blame her. She'd probably had a hard life too, and there but for the bullying of God goes Klaus. At least he'd had someone looking out for him. Didn't seem like she did. 

The ghosts obeyed his command, and Klaus entered the nightclub. One down, two to go. And then it was going to be over. Klaus would be able to rest. At long last.


	30. Ignoring an Injury

Once inside the nightclub, Klaus hoped things would be a little easier. Unfortunately, Earthquake Guy didn't feel like going quietly. He came out of nowhere, ready to punch Klaus's lights out. He was also huge, sporting the same kind of gorilla body Luther had originally. It wasn't hard to guess then what his connection to Sir Reginald was. 

The thing was, he was even bigger than Luther. He was nearly ten feet tall and his leg was about as big around as Klaus's torso. For all his size, he still moved with great speed. Klaus, however, after two lifetimes of running, could still move faster. Just barely, but it was enough to keep him from getting pulverized. 

The problem was figuring out how to get past him. He dodged the initial attack, then called the ghosts to distract Earthquake Guy. His plan wasn't as successful due to his opponent's size. The ghosts swarmed him as they'd done with Electro-Babe, but he wasn't bothered in the least. From what Klaus remembered, that gorilla DNA meant that he'd have nearly impenetrable skin. 

In the split-second Klaus had taken to think, the big galoot had grabbed him around the waist. He squeezed, saying, "Is that all you've got, Ghost Boy?" 

"Ghost Boy?" Klaus said, then cried out. He'd felt a wet snap somewhere inside his chest. And, yeah, fuck that hurt. Something likely ruptured. 

Then ghostly tentacles were wrapping around the beast. He yelped in surprise, then dropped Klaus.

Ben was holding Earthquake Guy back, and he shouted, "Go! I'll hold him off!" 

Klaus nodded, wiping something wet off his lip. And, yeah, that was blood. Something vital was squished. He pushed that aside. He had to save his stupid and ungrateful family. If he was going to do one good thing before he died, he couldn't think of anything better. 

He pushed the doors open and stilled at the sight before him.

Vanya was nowhere in sight. Diego and Allison were hiding behind the DJ booth, while Sir Reginald stood by the bar. He did indeed have Luther, who was thankfully unconscious. Reggie was shooting at the other two, Diego was redirecting the bullets. One missed Klaus's head by inches, and he ducked down near a booth. 

Seeing Sir Reginald again... So much came flooding back. It came in a rush, and Klaus was paralyzed. He had to power through. They needed him. His family needed him! Yeah, okay, he didn't owe them the hair off his balls. Did that mean they deserved to die at the hands of their adoptive father? Not even close. 

Klaus crept around the booths, still unnoticed by Sir Reginald. He managed to get behind the DJ booth and discovered that Vanya was there, unconscious. "Where's Five?" Klaus asked.

"Jesus!" Allison exclaimed. 

"You dropped this," Klaus teased Diego, handing him his knife.

"Where'd you come from?" Diego asked.

"The emergency room. Look, the girl's out cold and Ben's taking care of Luther On Steroids. Do we know where Five is?" Klaus asked. 

"Dad has him," Diego explained. "He forced him to use his powers to get them here."

"He's behind the bar," Allison added.

"I don't get it, if he's so sure we're causing the apocalypse, why not just kill them? Why take them hostage?" Klaus wondered. 

"Because I was waiting for you."

Diego, Klaus, and Allison peaked over the top of the DJ booth. Sir Reginald had abandoned Luther and approached the booth. "I had to be certain you were all here. Once again you've caused me more trouble, Number Four." 

"I've got a talent for it," he replied. 

"Indeed." 

"So a family reunion at a club? My you are branching out," Klaus teased.

"This location has been vacant for some time. Long enough for young Harold to finish his task," said Sir Reginald.

And Klaus could see it in Sir Reginald's mind. He'd never been able to read his mind before, but now it was plain as day. A bomb. He'd known Pogo would warn them that he'd escaped. He'd been counting on it. This was Sir Reginald's one fell swoop, to take out the entire Academy at once. But then, Klaus had a crazy idea. He whispered it to Allison. Her eyes went wide and she shook her head. "I can't do that," she whispered.

"We need a diversion, it'll work," he replied. "It'll buy you enough time to get Luther, Five, and Vanya out of here. He's planted a bomb in the building, we only have a few minutes left." 

Diego was staring at Klaus like he was crazy. 

"Trust me," Klaus said, then stood up.

He held his hands up as he approached Sir Reginald. "So how was prison?" Klaus asked. 

"If you are attempting to stall, Number Four, you should know I will not be dissuaded. I should have killed you all at birth. Had I known you were the cause of the apocalypse rather than the solution, I would have," said Sir Reginald. 

"Kind of hard to kill an immortal, isn't it?" Klaus countered. 

"While I may not be able to destroy you, I can incapacitate you."

Klaus smiled as he stood close to Sir Reginald. "Didn't work out so well for Harold. Hey did you know if you cut my head off I grow a new body? Isn't that weird? It's like if a lizard tail just grew an entirely new lizard."

He was frowning at Klaus. "That is inconsequential. You can be contained, Number Four." 

"I'm sure you're right, but I have to tell you something before you kill everyone," Klaus said. "It's really important." 

"Very well, proceed."

Klaus leaned close to Sir Reginald and said, "The Devil said he'll see you soon."

Diego then jumped up and threw his knife, managing to nail Sir Reginald in the side. The gun went off, and Klaus cried out as the shot tore through his leg. This was sufficient distraction for Allison, who had slipped out from behind the DJ booth and grabbed Sir Reginald's hand.

"I heard a rumor that you strangled Klaus," she said.

Sir Reginald's eyes misted over, and he dropped the gun. His hands went around Klaus's throat and squeezed. Klaus could see the confusion and frustration clear in his father's eyes. He was being compelled by Allison. Vaguely he could see Allison, Diego, and Ben's ghost fetching the others. Ben must have finally knocked out the Earthquake-Guy.

Klaus was able to keep him solid as he used the Horror to drag Luther out. There wasn't much else he could do. He could feel he was slipping. Sir Reginald let out a frustrated scream as he was not able to let go of Klaus. Unable to follow through on his plan. All he could do was press his hands into Klaus's neck, cutting off his oxygen. Killing him. 

There was a low rumble from somewhere, and Klaus closed his eyes. This was it, this was it, this was--

The explosion ripped through the building just when Klaus succumbed.


	31. Left for Dead

This time, it was different. There was no grayscale countryside, there was no God and no Devil. As a matter of fact, it looked like Klaus was in the middle of a blown up nightclub. 

"Oh no," he said. 

Ben was standing next to him. He gave Klaus a sad smile. "Hey."

"Am I..." He trailed off, then looked down.

Yep, there he was. Dead, his eyes fixed open, a small smile on his face. Sir Reginald was dead too, and it looked like his body had taken most of the blast. Burned to a crisp, just like he deserved. Though, what really hurt, was seeing their siblings.

They were covered in ash and soot, and some like Diego and Vanya had cuts on their hands from moving the rubble. When they found Klaus, Allison said, "No, he can't be dead."

"He said it himself," said Five. "That someday he'd die and it would stick."

"Yeah but you guys never believe me," Klaus said.

They couldn't hear him, of course. Ben put a hand on Klaus's shoulder and asked, "Are you ready to go?" 

He sighed. "Yeah. I mean I kind of figured there'd be a bright light." 

"It's over here, dipshit."

Ben and Klaus turned to see a rather cranky looking woman with blue hair teased to the extreme. She was wearing a bright red jacket that looked like it belonged to a bellhop. She'd paired it with a Bonnie Tyler t-shirt, a green tutu, purple leggings, and silver ankle boots. She was standing next to a doorway, and in that doorway was a very bright tunnel. 

"You're Death?" Ben asked. 

"That's me," she replied. She was chewing bubble gum and blew a bubble before popping it with her teeth.

"Why are you dressed like the best friend in an 80s teen romance?" Klaus asked. 

She glared at him. "You wanna go to Heaven or do you want me to leave you here? I got no problem doing either you little shit."

"Oh, right, sorry," said Klaus. He didn't want to piss her off. What if she changed her mind? However, he noticed that Ben wasn't moving. "Are you coming or not?" 

Ben sighed. "You go ahead."

"But Ben..."

"I can't just leave them, Klaus."

"They can't even see you without me."

"Maybe, but I'll feel a lot better knowing I can keep an eye on them. Even if I can't help, I can at least watch, and wait," said Ben.

Klaus wanted to protest, but he couldn't make Ben do something he didn't want to do. He gave Ben a hug and said, "Take care of yourself, and don't linger down here too long." 

"I won't," said Ben, hugging him tightly.

He let go and didn't look back as he entered the gateway. Death was still glaring at him, but he ignored her. 

When Klaus stepped through, he was glad to see it wasn't grayscale this time. It was the countryside again, this time in full living color. God was waiting for him and she said, "That was quick thinking."

"Yeah, maybe I'm not just a pretty face after all," he replied. 

"Come on, he's waiting," said God.

She led him down the road. They stopped outside a picturesque cottage, and she said, "He's inside."

"Thanks," Klaus replied. "And... Thanks for trying." She'd tried to warn him and steer him to the right path every time. Okay, Klaus didn't necessarily listen, but it was better than giving him up as a lost cause. And She knew it, too. 

God smiled, then vanished. 

Klaus went up to the door, suddenly nervous. He hadn't seen Dave in years, at least not outside his dreams. He was so worn out, and here he was at the end of the road. He raised his hand to knock, but the door opened before he could.

"Klaus?" Dave asked, a smile on his face. He didn't reply, instead, he threw himself at Dave, hugging him. Dave held him, saying, "Shh, it's okay, it's okay baby. You're home now." 

"I can't believe it's really you," Klaus sobbed. "It's been so long."

"I know. It's okay." 

He was crying so hard, it felt like everything was leaving him through his tears. The suffering, the bad memories, all that pain. Dave pulled him further inside and they curled up on the bed together. Klaus wasn't willing to let him go, and Dave seemed to understand. Klaus cried and cried. 

After hours of tears and sobbing, Klaus finally calmed down. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it happens to everyone when they get here," Dave told him. "It's the trauma leaving you. Sometimes people cry just for a few minutes. But you..."

"Have had a really fucked up life."

Dave chuckled. "Yeah. So that took a little more time than usual." He toyed with Klaus's hair as he talked.

"I missed you so much," Klaus said. 

"I missed you too. I'm so sorry you went through all of that," Dave replied.

Klaus sat up. "You saw?"

"Just because I'm not earthbound doesn't mean I wasn't keeping tabs on you," Dave explained. "I couldn't stop it, but even though I couldn't be there with you, I wanted to be there for you. Does that make sense?"

He was crying yet again. If Klaus had been forced to watch Dave go through half of what Klaus had been through, it would have torn his heart into tiny pieces. "I'm so sorry." 

"Hey, no," Dave said, sitting up too. "Don't be sorry. You didn't do anything wrong. I love you." 

"I love you too."

Klaus kissed Dave, and then they were lying together again. The sun was setting, and Klaus said, "We should go watch."

"Hm?"

"The sunset. I can't remember the last time I watched a sunset. I bet the sunsets here are stunning." 

"Tomorrow," Dave said. "We've got forever. Let me hold you. I haven't held you in so long." He gave Klaus a little squeeze, and it made him smile. 

"Whatever you want."

The End


	32. Bonus Chapter: The Funeral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It didn't feel right just leaving it there. I was going to have this as a one shot but figured a bonus chapter would be easier.

_Luther_

It was his fault. If he'd just made the right choice when they were kids. If he hadn't left Klaus behind on that mission. If Luther hadn't chosen to sacrifice him. Maybe this could have been avoided. Their brother wouldn't have gone missing for over a decade.

No, Klaus hadn't been missing. He'd run away. It wasn't Luther's fault alone, logically, he knew that. But he was Number One, the team leader, and he'd managed to screw up all over again. First with Vanya, then Dallas, and finally Klaus. He'd never believed in Klaus, and now they were burying him. 

They'd cremated their father. No one was quite sure what to do with his ashes. They didn't want to keep them, especially not around here. Five had taken them somewhere to be disposed of, but he didn't say where. No one asked, they didn't want to know. Though Luther was pretty sure he saw Allison spit in the urn before Five took it away. 

The man and woman who'd helped Sir Reginald had been locked up in the Hotel Oblivion. It was the only place they could think of, and the only facility that could handle people with abilities like theirs. They had gone kicking and screaming, but at least they were gone. 

No one knew what Klaus would have wanted. Despite Klaus and his affinity for the dead, the subject of death never came up much. Even after Ben's second funeral, no one had asked. Since none of them knew what to do, they'd decided to bury him next to Ben. 

Diego had handled the arrangements. He'd ordered the coffin, similar to the one created for Ben. Including the Umbrella Academy emblem, his number, and his portrait. They didn't have any pictures of Klaus smiling, and certainly no recent pictures. Vanya had spoken to an artist friend of hers, and they'd painted a portrait of Klaus based on his post mortem photos. 

Luther had to hand it to them, it was good. You'd never know Klaus was dead. His green eyes were open and alive, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. 

And now here they were, assembled in the courtyard. Luther, Diego, Allison, Five, and Vanya. Mom was there too, with Pogo, though they were standing some distance away. Pogo was to be returned to the prison after the funeral. Mom thought Klaus might not want her there. 

It was raining, appropriately enough. Luther had an umbrella this time, a golf umbrella since nothing else would cover his shoulders. As he looked stared down at the coffin, Luther's heart ached. Klaus had saved his life. He didn't have to. If Luther had experienced even half of what Klaus went through? He couldn't say for certain he would have done the same. 

That was Klaus. All heart, despite pretending otherwise. Luther's eyes stung, but he wouldn't let any tears fall. He had to be strong today. For his brothers and sisters. And for Klaus.

_Diego_

He didn't want to be here.

Standing over the soon to be grave of another brother. Diego had found it difficult to forgive Klaus for running out on them. He understood it, and he accepted it. He didn't forgive it. Diego knew he had a tendency to hold a grudge. Everyone who'd ever met him knew that. Eudora used to give him shit about it to no end. Lila, in their brief time together, had teased him about it too. 

The rain was cold against his face. He'd skipped the umbrella. Klaus had enough of them when he was alive, Diego didn't imagine that had suddenly changed now that he was dead. Permanently.

It was a weird thought. Klaus was supposed to be immortal. But he'd warned them someday he wouldn't come back. Who knew it would be when Dad killed him? None of them could figure out why that made a difference. Why it had to be Sir Reginald to do the deed. They'd probably never know. Klaus had been their connection to the world of the dead, and that connection was severed. 

Diego briefly wondered if Ben was around. Probably not. With Klaus gone what would be the point? Just watching his brothers and sisters go on living without him? Without them? 

No one wanted to speak. Allison was supposed to give the eulogy, but she asked if anyone else had anything to say. 

"He didn't deserve this," Diego said. 

They looked at him. Vanya confused, Five solemn, Luther guilty. Allison gestured for him to continue, so he did. 

"We failed him as a family and as a team. He still came back and saved our asses even though he didn't have to, and that's something we can't repay," Diego said, trying to keep the anger out of his tone. "And if there were any justice we'd have been locked up next to Dad and Pogo." 

No one argued. They weren't meeting Diego's eyes. He didn't have anything more to say, and he couldn't watch them lower Klaus into the ground. So he turned around and went back to the house. Diego went right for the bar. 

He'd always hoped that Klaus would come back one day. When it happened, Diego couldn't believe it. Seeing Klaus again, half-naked and babbling, it had scared him. And... Diego wasn't great at expressing his feelings. He'd wanted to tell him he'd missed him, and how sorry he was. Instead, he'd been suspicious. 

Now there was nothing he could do. Klaus was dead. And you couldn't say sorry to a ghost. Diego poured himself a drink and knocked it back. Then another.

_Allison_

When Diego left, Allison didn't stop him. He was so upset, and making him stay to pay his respects would make it worse. If she could avoid hurting her brothers today, she would do her best. As the leader, she had to do this.

"Did anyone else want to speak?" She asked. 

Vanya shook her head. Five was still stoic. Luther didn't speak either, so Allison sighed and went on. 

"We're here today to pay respects to Klaus Hargreeves, our brother. He was wild, a real card, and often would let whatever was in his head come out of his mouth," said Allison. "He was a good person, who made mistakes but still kept trying. Klaus could forgive and forget easier than anyone I've ever known in either of my lives." 

She could feel the tears coming. She coughed, having read once that coughing could stop you from crying. And Allison kept talking. 

"I don't want to erase what happened to him. Klaus lived through hell in this timeline, and it's our fault as much as it was Sir Reginald's." Allison refused to call him Dad. No father would do to their son what Sir Reginald had done to Klaus. 

"But I also don't want this timeline to erase who Klaus was before. And that was a sweet, caring person who loved everyone, even when they didn't love him back as he deserved. 

"I wish we could have spent the last decade together, but Klaus did what was best for himself, probably for the first time in his life. And the best thing for him was to leave. Klaus, if you can hear me," and she hoped he couldn't, "I hope you found peace at last. I'm sorry we couldn't give you that peace." 

She felt a tear slide down her face, but she didn't wipe it away. Allison went to the coffin and laid a hand on it, before turning and going inside. She ditched the umbrella by the door and headed to her room. She needed to make a call. Patrick had agreed to keep Claire away from the Academy for the day. She was too young for funerals, they both felt. Allison would talk to her daughter and her husband, and then maybe she'd feel all right.

_Five_

Allison was the first to go. Vanya and Luther followed her. Pogo was escorted away by guards from the prison. Mom asked if he needed anything and when he said no, she went inside. Five stayed as the men came to lower Klaus into the ground. He stayed as the coffin was covered in dirt. He wasn't sure how long he was out there.

It had gotten dark around him. Five was cold and knew he'd have to go inside soon. The rain hadn't let up, and the workmen had bitched about it the entire time. They didn't talk to him, which was good because Five might have snapped. Like Diego, he was itching for a fight. Unlike Diego, he wasn't going to start one. He'd keep a cool head and file this away for later.

The funeral had been over for hours, but it had taken Five so long to collect his thoughts. Now, he knew what he wanted to say. It didn't matter to him if anyone heard. 

"I wish I could have gotten to know you," Five said. "Looking back, I don't think I knew you at all. You were always the goofball when we were kids. I never liked that you took drugs, and I can't pretend to understand it, even now. I thought if I jumped back before the apocalypse, I could live my life over again. And I did, twice.

"Even with a do-over, I screwed up. Not only with you, but you were my biggest failure. When you came back, I'd never seen someone look so old. Not physically, I think you were in the best shape of your life. It was in your eyes, and I knew it from seeing my own. You suffered in ways that were painful and humiliating. 

"I didn't take the time to get to know you. I made assumptions based on what the others told me. And on what Dad told me. I shouldn't have listened to them. I should have spent some time with you. You were right when you said the apocalypse was my drug. I never let it go, until now." 

Five reached into his coat and took out a small glass flower. "I was saving this for if you ever returned. I wish I'd given it to you when you arrived. You said once when we were kids that lilies of the valley were your favorites. I don't know if that's still true. I decided to wait until after we handled the crisis and I'm going to regret that for the rest of my life. I love you, Klaus. I should have said it sooner." 

He leaned down and shifted some of the dirt away, getting mud on his hands. He pressed the glass flower into the earth, then covered it up again. Once his task was done, Five went inside and up to his room. He would shower, change into something warm, and then reflect.

_Vanya_

It was quiet at the Academy that evening. They were wrapped up in their own guilt, each person thinking about how they had failed Klaus. Vanya was particularly ashamed of herself. She knew what it was like to be isolated. Vanya knew that better than anyone. And she'd never reached out to Klaus or tried to help him.

As a matter of fact, she'd killed him herself. More than once. When he'd run away, she refused to watch the tapes. Allison told her what was on them, and Vanya had wept. She had fallen in line and turned into exactly what she'd hated growing up. 

Vanya of course wasn't the only person to blame. They'd all played their part. That Klaus hadn't outright killed them all still amazed Vanya. She'd been ready to destroy the world when she'd learned the truth about herself. 

He had been angry the night he'd escaped. Klaus had injured Five so badly he had to see a physical therapist for a year. But he hadn't killed them. Klaus hadn't come close. And when he'd returned, it was much the same. He certainly had the ability to kill, made clear by Harold Jenkins. Klaus had made short work of him, and sometimes when Vanya thought about it she wanted to vomit. 

Klaus had commanded the ghosts to rip him apart, and Vanya had looked away. Though she was haunted by the wet tearing sound as the ghosts did Klaus's bidding. She felt queasy just thinking about it. She could hear it in her head. That, and Klaus begging for them to believe him. 

They hadn't, of course. They'd assumed he was on drugs again. Why hadn't they given Klaus the benefit of the doubt? He'd done so well up to that point. Perhaps he wasn't totally reliable, but hed' done his best. 

Vanya's head was too full, so she went to her room and grabbed her violin. It was ironic. In the first timeline, Klaus had knocked out the wall between her room and his to expand his room. In this timeline, it was the opposite. Klaus's things were in the attic somewhere. 

No one had been able to throw them away. Just in case he came back. 

She let herself in and closed the door, then grabbed her violin. When she crossed the room she shivered for a moment. Like someone had walked over her grave. that was how people described it, wasn't it? A random shudder from nowhere. 

Vanya sighed, putting it out of her mind. She made sure the violin was properly tuned, then began to play. Vanya didn't know a lot of contemporary music. But she knew that Klaus had always loved disco and R&B. She smiled a bit as she started to play.

It was a medley of Klaus's favorite songs, something she'd put together when she needed to practice her bowing or keep herself company. Vanya had never been good with her words. But she could speak volumes with her music, and that's what she was doing now.

Vanya let the notes flow, and hoped Klaus could hear it. She hoped that he knew she was sorry and she loved him.

_Ben_

When Vanya started to play, Ben left her room. She'd walked right through him and had no idea. He went to check on the others. He found Luther in his room, listening to Vanya play and humming to himself as he ate a package of Oreos. He'd already gone through three of them. It was better than getting drunk, Ben figured.

He checked Allison's room next door. She was on the phone, face still wet but a smile on her face. She was using her baby talk voice, so she was probably talking to her daughter. She was sniffing and said, "Yes, mama's sad. I promise I'll explain when I get home. He did? That was so nice of him. Did you tell him thank you? Good girl, I'm so proud of you."

Ben went to Diego's room. He was the one Ben was really worried about. Diego had been angry at the funeral, and when Diego got angry, he got self-destructive. As Ben walked into his room, a knife went right through him and stuck in the target on the door. Diego let out a gruff sound, retrieved it, and stepped back. He threw it again, still not satisfied with how it was landing.

It was hitting the target dead-on, just like it always did. Still, at least Diego wasn't out there beating up criminals or getting himself killed. There were worse ways to show his grief. 

He saved Five for last because he was still outside. Ben wasn't sure why until he heard Five's speech. When Five buried the glass flowers if Ben could have cried he would have. Klaus did love lilies of the valley. He probably would have been very touched by the gesture. 

Ben hadn't known Klaus as long as the others. His former self was dead in the first timeline, too. And he'd always wondered what exactly had come between them. Why Klaus was considered such a failure, when from what Ben could see none of them were exactly normal. 

And he still didn't understand. However, he could see they were finally growing up. It shouldn't have taken their supposedly immortal brother's death to make that happen. Still, better late than never, right?

"Are you finished?" 

Ben sighed. "I guess so. Where am I going?"

"Heaven, of course." Death stood next to Ben, looking down at Klaus's grave.

"How come you wouldn't give Klaus a break?" Ben asked. 

"Rules are rules. I said I wouldn't touch the kid unless he was killed by forces not of this Earth. And when I say something, I mean it. Unlike God or the Devil," she said.

He blinked. "That's why it had to be Dad, wasn't it?"

"He's the reason you all ended up here in the first place. I felt it was fitting he be the one to end your brother's life," said Death. 

"But our births were spontaneous," Ben said.

"Yeah, spontaneously caused by Hargreeves. Come on, I'll explain on the way." 

She took his arm, and together they approached the front gates. There was another vortex, one that looked exactly like the light Klaus walked into. Ben paused just shy of the gate, looking over his shoulder. Every light in the place was on. He could still hear Vanya playing. He could see shadows of people moving inside. 

"Are they going to be all right?" Ben asked. 

"I'm not scheduled to take any of them for the next fifty years," Death said. "They'll be fine. Besides, when you're in Heaven, time has no meaning. Klaus can tell you that." 

"Really?"

"Yeah. To him, he's only been there a few hours. It's been over a week down here." She was looking at Ben curiously. "Unless of course, you want to stay."

Did he? They couldn't see him, they couldn't talk to him. He couldn't give them comfort after losing Klaus. He couldn't tell them that Klaus was okay and that Ben would be. "You're sure they'll be all right?" 

"As all right as anyone named Hargreeves can be," Death said. 

That would have to do. Ben took Death's hand, and they stepped through the gates. This time, he didn't look back.

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](https://talkingcinemalight.tumblr.com/)


End file.
